We're disappointed that the National Labor Relations Board has voted not to seek a court order that would immediately reinstate us to our rightful jobs as reporters at the Santa Barbara News-Press.

The board's 3-2 vote on Friday means that Wendy McCaw, the News-Press owner, can continue to delay justice for months on end, hoping, no doubt, that we will give up and leave town.

Make no mistake: We will win our case for reinstatement in the end. The general counsel of the labor board earlier this month issued a complaint against McCaw for firing all eight of us. The trial is set to begin Aug. 14 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court building on State Street. It's slated to end on Sept. 14, with a few breaks in between.

The outcome of this case will have repercussions well beyond us eight reporters. It will be watched by journalists, pressmen, newspaper owners and union members across America.

Can an immensely wealthy woman - a bully with a big bank account - lay waste to a public trust and fire union supporters with impunity? Or will she have to obey the law and stop interfering in news reporting, as the rules of ethics require?

It is illegal in America today to retaliate against workers who are organizing a union to obtain a fair employment contract. Contrary to what News-Press readers may have been led to believe, the federal government is prosecuting the News-Press for at least 15 violations of this basic right.

We News-Press journalists voted 33-6 last September to join the Teamsters. We had no choice but to unionize because McCaw was using the news to curry favor with her friends. She was trampling on the most basic rules of journalism ethics and attacking reporters and editors who stood up for the truth. She threatened to fire us if we talked about how to improve conditions in our workplace.

McCaw finally did fire eight of us after we helped lead a successful union campaign in her newsroom. And she set out to indefinitely delay the day when the rest of our colleagues could begin contract negotiations. Nine months after the union vote, they are still not at the bargaining table.

McCaw has kept her readers in the dark about our firings and other federal charges pending against her. The board's general counsel will prosecute the News-Press for denying annual bonuses to union supporters, threatening to suspend them, videotaping them at rallies, cancelling their columns, interrogating them, disrupting a union meeting and ordering them not to wear "McCaw, Obey the Law" buttons.

We will be represented by federal lawyers in court and we have no doubt we will win.

But here's the hitch: By rejecting our request for an injunction against McCaw, the board has cleared the way for her to file appeals at every turn, leaving us to twist in the wind without the protection of federal law until someday - 2009? 2010? - the board issues a final ruling in our favor.

What do workers' rights and freedom of the press mean to you? Now, more than ever, we need your support.

If you are still buying the News-Press for whatever reason - to read the comics or the stocks pages or the movie listings, perhaps - please take a stand for justice and CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TODAY.

If you still advertise in the News-Press, please PULL YOUR ADS TODAY. Don't do business with McCaw until she obeys the law.

Our Web site gives you daily news and reminds McCaw that we will not quit. If you're a regular visitor to SantaBarbaraNewsroom.com, please DONATE TO OUR CAUSE.

Say "no" to the bully in De la Guerra Plaza. Help us take back the News-Press!