Union maybe*

Let the nail biting begin. Newsroom employees of the Bay Area Newspaper Group-East Bay - aka BANG-EB - head to the makeshift polls today to vote on unionization. A simple majority will decide the outcome.

*Results should be available at 7 p.m. on the papers' Web sites.

The election has been hotly contested. Group publisher John Armstrong went so far as set up an internal Web site to knock down pro-union arguments. One of his most ardent anti-union supporters was business reporter George Avalos. To get an idea of the level of distrust here, read what he had to say on June 3 in a response to another comment on the internal Web site:

I suggested there were two REAL reasons for the union's incursion into the East Bay news rooms.

The initial reason I gave was there are more than a few folks who want to settle some sort of score with Dean Singleton because they apparently hate him.

I also hinted there was another reason

I believe the primary reason for this is the union wants to use CCN and ANG journalists as pawns in a membership drive.

Unions have watched haplessly as perhaps thousands of members were dismissed or took buy outs in recent years because of newspaper job cuts.

So union bosses they need fresh bodies that they can coerce into paying dues.

Also: Meanwhile, back down south, union members at the Long Beach Press-Telegram once again rallied alongside city officials as they work to unstall contract negotiations with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group - LANG.