NYT: Ads Use Logos of Washington Post to Skewer It

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/business/media/21post.html?ref=business

By SARAH ABRUZZESE
Published: January 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Since the beginning of the month, the names of The Washington Post’s signature sections have been used in a negative advertising blitz against the paper.

The radio, print and billboard advertising campaign running in the metropolitan area for the duration of January is not being paid for by a competitor or an angry interest group but rather by the union that represents about 400 employees of the newspaper.


Susan Etheridge for The New York Times
Billboards in the Washington Metro are part of a campaign by union workers that uses names of the paper’s sections.


The Communications Workers of America union is seeking to restart stalled contract talks after five years. The union represents the employees who assemble the newspaper at the printing plants, known as mailroom workers.

Section names like Outlook and Style are used in the campaign. For example, “Looks like greed is in Style. Just ask Washington Post executives.” The name of Donald E. Graham, the chairman and chief executive of The Washington Post Company, is used in an ad that refers to the employment section: “Another job hazard at the Post: Getting stepped on by Don Graham.”

Each ad also directs people to a Web site that the union set up: washingtonpostunfair.com. The site has information on the disagreement as well as directions for people to write the Post ombudsman or call Mr. Graham.

“It is an expensive campaign,” said William J. Boarman, a vice president of the union who leads the division that negotiates with newspapers, although he did not reveal the cost. Mr. Boarman said that blanketing two Metro train stations with ads has been very successful, even leading a federal negotiator to call.

FULL story at link.

I've seen the ads. I'm an ex-employee at the WaPo, and know what hell they have to go through to get even a halfway decent contract. I'm rooting for my friends who still work at the Post.

And yes, it's pure greed there. To be fair, the NYT has nothing to crow about in the area of employee relations either.