#2 Detroit Newspaper Union Strike
Warning: Don't put your coins In that Detroit News or Detroit Free Press box! The paper has been produced by scab labor. This has been the case since July 13, when the 2,500 union workers at the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News and the company that oversees the business operations of both papers, the Detroit Newspapers Agency (DNA) , went on strike.
At the time that workers walked out, talks between the unions and the two newspapers had broken down following an impasse on virtually every area of contract negotiations. Beginning Aug. 21, talks facilitated by state and federal mediators have resumed, but as AGENDA goes to press there has been no measurable progress.
The striking workers are members of the six unions which make up the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions. The Council, an informal labor alliance, is the unions' designated bargaining agent. Among its members are circulation managers, customer service workers, truck drivers, mailroom employees, reporters, photographers, copy editors, graphic artists, assistant editors, maintenance workers, and press operators. The striking unions involved are the Teamsters Locals 372 and 2040, Newspaper Guild of Detroit Local 22, Graphic Communications International Union Locals 13N and 289N, the Detroit Typographical Union Local 18, and Engravers Local 289M.
The Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions was formed in 1971 in an effort to improve the bargaining process on all sides. Prior to that time, each union would bargain its own contract - a time-consuming process riddled with problems. For instance, the papers would try to bargain first with the union they considered the weakest, to set a precedent for subsequent contracts. Especially in the light of the 1989 Joint Operating Agreement (JOA), which strengthened the hand of the papers by consolidating managerial (non-union) operations, the power and thus effectiveness of one labor organization with greater numbers became essential.
Normally the Council jointly represents all the unions in bargaining economic issues with the management (and individual unions meet with the papers on other issues, i.e. job categories and workplace control). Throughout the talks this summer, however, management has reversed its position several times as to whether it would bargain at all with the Council. At present, the papers and the DNA are only willing to meet with individual unions.
The DNA was formed in 1989 in the wake of the JOA reached between the two papers. The JOA was a result of economic difficulties facing both The News and the Free Press and establishes a 100-year link between the two papers' owners, Gannett Co. and Knight-Ridder Inc. The understanding - which allowed for the exception to anti-monopoly laws - was that without the JOA, at least one paper would not survive.
The News had a pre-strike daily circulation of 356,000 and an editorial staff of 300. Of those, 190 are striking Guild members. The News' owner is media giant Gannett Co. , which had earnings of $3.82 billion In 1994.
The Free Press had a pre-strike daily circulation of 545,000. Its owner, Knight-Ridder Inc. , posted profits of $2.64 billion In 1994. Of the Free Press' 303 editorial staff members, 265 are Guild members on strike.
Normally the papers published separate editions Mondays through Saturdays and a combined paper on Sundays. During the strike, however, they have published a joint paper seven days a week.
The Issues
The basic issues over which the workers are striking are equitable pay, job security , maintaining benefits, and job definitions.
Workers have gone without a raise since the 1989 merger, when the DNA was pleading for help to keep the papers alive. Now that the papers have posted a profit two years in a row, workers say it's time for a raise. The News and Free Press, in a July 16 article, stated that the DNA made an estimated $46 million profit in 1994.
The union claims the DNA wants to fill many jobs now reserved for union members with non-union employees and slash many full-time positions to part-time with no benefits or job security. The DNA also wants to decrease the number of Jobs in some areas (particularly mailroom employees).
The union also states that equitable pay is being threatened by DNA proposals to replace across-the-board raises for newsroom employees with merit-based raises - which the union views as an arbitrary system, fostering favoritism, and having no clear guidelines. And the DNA wants some journalists to designate themselves as "professionals" on a salary, on call all the time, with no eligibility for overtime. There also remain unresolved issues surrounding health insurance, sick leave, vacation time, and other benefits.
The union also opposes a move by the DNA to change the entire circulation operation by reducing the number of district managers (giving fewer managers larger areas), and changing the status of newspaper carriers from independent operators to agents (giving the DNA control over subscriber lists and possibly eliminating the union-member status of managers). The DNA's plan to eliminate rules that define workers' roles - so that, for example, an engraver could be made to do janitorial work - is also opposed by the union.
On July 2, Detroit News publisher Bob Giles unilaterally imposed a merit-based pay system and other work conditions on Newspaper Guild members. This tactic is considered an "act of war" in contract negotiations--it makes it very difficult to continue working during talks. All six of the Council's unions had agreed that they were prepared to walk out in support, if any one union had conditions imposed on it.
Management, for their part, accuses the unions of "featherbedding" - attempting to force the company to retain unnecessary Jobs. And despite the DNA's claims to the contrary, union members believe that management will never bargain in good faith and is out to break the union.
In an article published July 16, The News and Free Press summed up the conflict as: 'The company's desire to gain full control over its business operations vs. the unions' desire to protect jobs and set workplace rules."
To Cross or Not to Cross
On Aug. 8, Free Press managers issued striking editorial staffers an ultimatum: Return to work by Aug.10 or you may lose your job.
"This letter is to inform you that we have decided, effective 1 0 am Thursday, Aug. 10, 1995, to begin extending job offers to others on a permanent basis," stated the letter signed by publisher Neal Shine and seven senior editors. "If you have not returned to work by that time, we intend to exercise our legal right to hire permanent replacements."
This is ironic given the Free Press editorial which appeared last year in opposition to the hiring of permanent replacements in a strike. The U.S. Senate has an important opportunity to restore balance in relations between labor and business," stated the editorial. "It should approve a bill that would prohibit companies from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. The right to strike is essential if workers are to gain and preserve fair wages."
They're apparently ready to replace our butts," W. Kim Heron, a copy editor and reporter at the Free Press since 1979, told The Detroit Journal (an on-line publication put out by striking journalists). "But we're not ready to kiss theirs."
Roger Chesley, a 12-year veteran of the Free Press who has reported on crime in inner-city Detroit and the riots in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict, also refused to cross the picket line. "I put myself in some type of personal danger for this newspaper," Chesley told The Journal. "It just seems a real strange way to say thanks for all you've done."
Whereas an unspecified number of reporters (57 according to published reports) did heed the threat and return to work, others burned their letters on the picket line.
One of those who crossed the line was Free Press medical writer Pat Anstett, whose husband is also a writer on strike. "I was sobbing. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Anstett was quoted as saying in the The News and Free Press. "We have three young children - I hope it's obvious to everyone why we came back. We had no income."
Free Press reporter Martin F. Kohn, however, was undeterred. "We all have reasons to cross," Kohn told The News and Free Press. "My wife has MS. She requires $900 a month in prescriptions. I'm not crossing," he said.
The News and Free Press have recruited scabs from other papers owned by their parent companies. In late July, Knight Ridder Inc. bought in reporters, editors, and photographers with offers of lucrative pay on top of their regular pay back home. They have also been compensated for airfare and expenses.
Fair Play?
Accusations have flown on both sides of the strike. The DNA accuses strikers of harassing and assaulting newspaper carriers and other scabs, of tossing nails on the street to flatten the tires of delivery trucks, and of stealing coin-operated newspaper boxes. The strikers accuse the DNA of intimidation in the hiring of a private jackbooted security force and of bribery, in the "contributions" they have made to the Sterling Heights Police Dept. (SHPD) for policing its printing plant at 16 Mile and Mound Roads during the strike.
According to the Aug. 24 edition on of a strike bulletin called The Alliance, an Aug. 16 memo by Sterling Heights Finance Director Virginia Fette documented the following: that the DNA gave the Sterling Heights Police Department $ 116,921 on July 20; $50,956 on July 26; $69,225 on Aug 8; and $50,311 on Aug. 16. The total amount given to the SHPD by the DNA at that time was $287,413.
"I personally feel its a conflict of interest," Torn Page, an officer with Teamsters Local 2040, told AGENDA. "Not only is the Detroit Newspapers Agency paying for outside [security] people, they're also paying for the Sterling Heights Pólice Department" Page claims the papers have been paying off the
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NEWSPAPER STRIKE (FROM PREVIOUS PAGE)
Warren and Fraser police departments as well. The DNA has also come under fire for their blatantly biased coverage of the strike - essentially editorializing in front-page news stories of The News and Free Press.
"Your use of the paper you are producing as the propaganda arm of the Detroit Newspaper Agency also violates your obligation to provide responsible reporting to this community," wrote former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young in a letter to DNA chief executive officer Frank Vega, printed in The Detroit Journal. "It is a confirmation of the worst fears of those of us who have been concerned about what the effect would be on journalism in this town if Detroit ceased to be a two-newspaper town. The joint paper's one-sided reporting on the strike doesn't even pretend to be fair or balanced.
The Sterling Heights City Council has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate possible violations of the JOA, including pledges by the two papers to retain separate editorial voices and to protect jobs. That request has also been made by the AFL-CIO and the six striking Detroit unions. According to The Alliance, the unions recently became aware of a "secret amendment" unilaterally added to the JOA by the papers in 1992, which gave the DNA the right to publish a combined edition in the events of a strike.
The DNA has managed to raise the ire of the religious community, as well. In a letter to Detroit-area churches dated Aug. 2, the DNA suggested that congregation members sell The Detroit News and Free Press on Sundays after mass. The DNA offered the churches 75 from each $1.50 paper. "Here's a fantastic opportunity to raise extra finds for a variety of purposes: your church youth group; building renovations; aid to underprivileged church members; donations to charitable causes," stated the letter signed by Robert Althaus, senior vice president of circulation for the DNA.
Several of the pastors held a news conference to denounce the move. "I resent thls very, very much," said Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, pastor of St Leo's and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, in a published report. "I find itdeplorable that the newspapers would be trylng to draw the churches into their attempt to break the union. I protest the idea that they would use churches to, in effect, sell scab newspapers."
Some noted that strikers are part of their congregations. "I think it is devastating that these corporations would come Into an ecclesiastical body and ask them to really hurt their own family members," added the Rev. Loyce Lester, pastor of the Original New Grace Baptist Church.
By all indications, this strike will not be resolved any time soon. Even given that reality, Page told AGENDA the morale among the strikers is "Very strong." "We're holding each other up, believe me," he said.
What you can do: To give the strikers the best chance of a fair settlement, you can help in the following ways: Cancel your subscription to The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. To do this cali 313-222-6500 and press "0" or call 1-800-395-3300.
Boycott and tell your local merchants that you win not shop at stores that continue to advertise n or sell The NewsFree Press. (For instance , Borders is still selling the paper and ABC Warehouse, Hudson's and Fretter are among the stores still advertising in it).
Help pass out leaflets to potential customers in front of stores still advertising in the paper. To participate, call strike headquarters at 313-965-1478.
Join the picket lines in downtown Detroit at the Free Press (321 W.Lafayette), The News and Detroit Newspapers Agency (615 W. Lafayette), and at the printing plant at 16 Mile and Mound Road in Sterling Heights.
Attend "Solidarity Saturday," a rally, march, and demonstration on Sept. 2 starting at 5 pm at UAW 228 in Sterling Heights. Cali 313-896-2600 for more information.
Send financial contributions to the strikers' hardship committee. Make checks payable to "Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions" co Newspaper Guild) of Detroit, 3300 Book Bk)g„ 1249 Washington Blvd., Detroit, MI 48226