LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Los Angeles Times press operators voted to join a unit of the Teamsters after 16 years of unsuccessful efforts to unionize the workers, according to the results of a vote counted Saturday, 10News reported.

The vote was 140-131 in favor of joining the International Brotherhood of Teamster's Graphic Communications Conference, organizer Marty Keegan said.

Four ballots are being challenged, but that would not affect the nine-vote margin, Keegan said. The National Labor Relations Board will now certify the results, and collective bargaining will begin, he said.

The vote affects about 300 employees at The Times' main printing operation -- the Olympic plant near downtown Los Angeles -- and in Costa Mesa.

No one representing management was immediately available for comment.

When the union and management begins negotiating its contract in the next 30-45 days, Keegan said a key demand will be to require any new owner who purchases the company to purchase the contract and protect the unionized employees, as well.

This would prevent a new employer from replacing employees and "cleaning up house," he said.

This is especially significant in light of the possible sale or breakup of Tribune, the paper's Chicago-based parent, which put itself up for auction in September.

"With the changes coming in our industry, there's so many employers simply trying to turn newspapers into cash cows," Keegan said. "The way the industry is going now, people are squeezing newspapers for the money. We're trying to get contracts that protect the industry from one owner to the next, so there's some stability in the workforce."

The contract would be legally binding, he said.

"I think it'll result in more hiring and a much better newspaper."