Washington, March 23 -- Press operators at the Los Angeles Times won a victory this week when the regional National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles rejected the newspaper's objections about the workers' successful election to join the Teamsters. "This is a great victory for the press operators at the Los Angeles Times who are courageously fighting to improve their lives and working conditions by joining the Teamsters," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. A majority of the 270 press operators voted in January to be represented by the Graphic Communications Conference (GCC) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "These press operators want a chance to improve their wages and working conditions, and we are going to work with them to achieve that goal," said George Tedeschi, President of the GCC and newly-elected Teamsters Vice President. The NLRB's decision Wednesday clears the way for certification of the election and for the GCC/Teamsters to begin work on bargaining the first contract for the press operators. The employees work at the two printing plants for the newspaper, in Los Angeles and in Orange County. The Graphic Communications Conference is a division of the Teamsters Union and represents more than 70,000 pressmen, pre-press operators, bindery workers, journalists and other employees at media companies and publishing firms in the United States.