Catching up on news you can use

Here's a round-up of recent news items we think are important:

— New update here on Guild bargaining at the Monterey Herald, a unit of the San Jose Newspaper Guild.

— In case you didn't have time to read the whole story on the Guild's campaign in the Bay Area ("We're still here. Don't believe the hype."), Dean Singleton, responding to claims he is anti-union, said: "I don't know where that reputation comes from," he says. "We have unions at many of our newspapers, and we usually reach agreement with them at contract time. I don't see how that's anti-union."
Really? Some of the company proposals here in Long Beach may not be "anti-union", but they damned sure aren't pro-worker!

— The National Labor Relations Board ruled last week in a 3-2 decision that it is legal for employers to prohibit union-related e-mail as long as employers have a policy barring employees from sending e-mail for "non-job-related solicitations" for outside organizations. NYT

— Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher picks the top ten news-industry stories of the year. The upcoming Newspaper Guild election and MediaNews gets mention.

— We've added a number of resources to the right rail under "Links".

— And finally, One Big BANG will launch its new website January 8th. We'll be checking in often when the address is up.