Star Tribune union to vote on Ridder

(AP) - Newsroom workers at the Star Tribune will vote next week on whether to call for Publisher Par Ridder to resign, their union said on Thursday.

Ridder's former employer, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, is suing him and the Star Tribune, alleging he violated a noncompete agreement and took sensitive financial information with him when he defected to the Minneapolis paper in March.

Ridder has acknowledged sharing Pioneer Press data on advertising, profits and personnel matters with Star Tribune officials. He said he intended to use them only to re-create the forms with Star Tribune data.

Stewards of the Newspaper Guild at the Star Tribune voted unanimously to ask members to vote on Tuesday on calling for Ridder "to resign over the journalistic breach of ethics to which he admitted in court."

In a statement, Star Tribune Chairman Chris Harte said the newspaper's owner, Avista Capital Partners, has full confidence in Ridder.

"The Guild does not get to decide who is publisher of the Star Tribune," he said.

The union represents about 300 newsroom workers as well as some who work in promotions and circulation.