BY JOHN SARGE
DETROIT - Newspaper workers on strike against this city's
two dailies are discussing ways to advance their fight after
a judge issued a court injunction banning mass picketing in
front of the Sterling Heights printing plant.
Officials of the striking locals have urged people to stay away from the plant. At the same time many strikers and other unionists continue to look for ways to delay or stop the Sunday edition.
Several hundred strikers and their supporters turned out September 23 at the Riverfront printing plant in nearby Detroit, because the newspaper was printed there the week before. Once it became clear that production was taking place in Sterling Heights, 200 strikers and supporters moved their picket to the Clayton Street Depot in southwest Detroit. Clayton Street is used to ship the assembled newspapers out for retail sales.
The Detroit police moved quickly to protect the strikebreakers and their newspapers. After escorting a van of scabs and arresting two strike supporters, the cops were forced to order two semi-trucks away because of the pickets. The company and the cops were only able to open the depot at 5:45 a.m. Dozens of area residents gathered for hours to cheer the strikers and shout insults at the cops. "We won tonight," James Selley, a striking member of Teamsters Local 372, explained. "Since the strike started, they have had to get the first trucks out of here by 2 a.m.," he said. "They're over three hours late already."
As the strike entered its 11th week, the Newspaper Guild called for an expanded picket line in front of the editorial offices in downtown Detroit every Thursday.
On September 21 a mass meeting was held for members of all six striking unions. Hundreds turned out to hear reports on the negotiations that had just resumed. This was the first time that the members of all six unions had met together.
Mailers union president Al Young reported that his union had agreed to $10.7 million in concessions before the strike, but the Detroit Newspaper Agency (DNA), which manages both papers, was now demanding more. Al Derey, chairman of the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions, told the meeting that his local had agreed on 153 contract items before the strike, but the company now only agrees to 140 of them.
Participants reported that much of the discussion at the strikers' meeting focused on continued outreach activities by strikers and their supporters. Derey said that the unions have vowed to keep fighting. "Our goal is to put whatever political, economic and social pressure on the company, and that's what it's going to take, to force them into good- faith bargaining."
In other developments, the strikers published the first edition of a strike newspaper, the Detroit Union, which is being circulated in the labor movement and around the area. Teamsters who ran the distribution of the newspapers before the strike are organizing a broader circulation for the next issue.
The unions are also organizing a "Bring the Strike home" campaign to get the families of strikers more solidly behind the walkout. On September 17 they organized a walk-by and a sing-along outside the home of Frank Vega, the head of the DNA. United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 412, which represents workers at the Chrysler Technical Center, among others, is targeting an auto dealership that continues to advertise in the struck newspapers. UAW Local 900, which represents Ford workers, has set up a committee to pressure businesses that sell the newspapers.
John Sarge is a member of UAW Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan.