When I worked for the Wall Street Journal in the early Sixties, I was a member of the "Independent Association of Publisher's Employees." It was a company-organized union (not worker-organized) as an alternative to the Newspaper Guild. As a result, most of us editorial employees were paid less than half of what our counterparts at the Post, Daily News, Times, etc. were paid.

This "union" had one bulletin board in the newsroom. One year, their "leaders" concluded "negotiations" for a new contract with Dow Jones & Co., the Journal's parent. The notice on the BB said: "Be sure to check out our new contract--especially the clause on job security." So I checked it out. It read:

"No employee shall be fired without 'just cause.'
"Just cause shall be defined as: violation of standard journalistic ethics; incompetence, dishonesty, or a decision by the Publisher to reduce the size of his staff" [emphasis added].

Right! They want to get rid of me, so they call me on the carpet and say, "Turnbull, the Publisher has decided to reduce the size of his staff by one--you. Oh, and that's ok by your union contract."