County Council backs Guild proposal

This resolution, approved unanimously by the Summit County Council on Monday, March 27, was sponsored by Tim Crawford, Calir Dickinson, Paul Gallagher and Tom Teodosio.

A Resolution of support for the Knight-Ridder Council of The Newspaper Guild-CWA for a "Worker Friendly" buyout of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, including the Akron Beacon Journal, and the creation of a ground-breaking employee-owned media company offering the chance to create a place where employees want to work and invest and thereby protecting the legacy of John S. Knight in Akron, for the County Council, and declaring an emergency.

WHEREAS, on March 13, 2006 McClatchy Co., a Sacramento, Califronia based company, announced it will acquire Knight-Ridder, Inc., the parent company of the Akron Beacon Journal (Beacon), for $6.5 billion in cash and stock; and

WHEREAS, McClatchy Co. has indicated that it plans to sell twelve of the thirty-two Knight-Ridder daily newspapers, including the Beacon; and

WHEREAS, the Beacon currently has 524 full-time and 191 part-time employees and has a long and important history in Summit County and Northeast Ohio; and

WHEREAS, the Beacon was founded in 1839 as the Summit Beacon, taking its current name in 1897 when the Summit Beacon merged with the Akron Journal; and

WHEREAS, Charles Landon Knight purchased the Beacon in 1903 and his son John S. Knight inherited the paper from his father and expanded into a journalistic dynasty founding. Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc. which by 1981 employed 15,000 workers and had a circulation of 3.6 million daily; and

WHEREAS, John S. Knight also was instrumental in Akron's growth and development, and "observing and contributing to Akron's metamorphosis from a canal town to a heavy industrial center, to finally a post-industrial city"; and

WHEREAS, since December 2005 the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America has been working to create a "Worker Friendly" buyout of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, including the Beacon; and

WHEREAS, in an attempt to protect the legacy of John S. Knight and quality the consumers of Knight-Ridder papers have come to expect and rely on over the decades, the Knight-Ridder Council of the Newspaper Guild-CWA is currently working in partnership with the Yucaipa Companies of Los Angeles, to create a worker-friendly and customer-friendly company to buy and improve Knight-Ridder newspapers and online services; and

WHEREAS, the Knight-Ridder Council of The Newspaper Guild-CWA has endorsed this innovative plan to create worker-friendly media company that will focus on serving customers and their communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the County of Summit, State of Ohio that:

SECTION 1.
The Council of the County of Summit, State of Ohio supports the efforts of the Knight-Ridder Council of The Newspaper Guild-CWA for a "Worker Friendly" buyout of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, including the Akron Beacon Journal, and the creation of a ground-breaking employee-owned media company offering the chance to create a place where employees want to work and invest and thereby protecting the legacy of John. S. Knight in Akron.

SECTION 2.
This Resolution is declared an emergency in the interest of the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the County of Summit, and for the further reason to indicate this Council's support to McClatchy Co. of efforts by the Knight-Ridder Council of The Newspaper Guild CWA for a "Worker Friendly" buyout of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, including the Akron Beacon Journal.

SECTION 3
Provided this Resolution received the affirmative vote of eight members it shall take effect immediately upon its adoption and approval by the Executive; otherwise, it shall take effect and be in force at the earliest time provided by law.

SECTION 4.
It is found and determined that all formal actions of this Council concerning and relating to the adoption of the Resolution were adopted in an open meeting of this Council, and that all deliberations of this Council and of any of its committees that resulted in such formal action, were in meetings open to the public, in compliance with all legal requirements, including Section 121.22 of the Ohio Revised Code.