BY JOHN SARGE
DETROIT - Chants of "What do we want? A contract! When
do we want it? Now!" echoed through the business district
here May 20, as 500 newspaper workers and their supporters
held a spirited rush-hour march, under the slogan of "1,000
days is long enough."
Almost three years ago, on July 13, 1995, some 2,500 members of six unions at this city's two daily newspapers, the Detroit News and Free Press, were forced to strike by the newspaper bosses.
After more than 20 months on the picket lines facing companies set on union busting and hundreds of hired thugs, the unions made an unconditional offer to return to work in February 1997. The companies -Gannett and Knight-Ridder, the two largest national newspaper chains - refused to take back most of the strikers, turning the strike into a lockout.
Last June 19, two days before tens of thousands of unionists from many cities marched here to protest the newspaper bosses' actions, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge ruled that the strike was caused by unfair labor practice by the Detroit News.
The paper had instituted a "merit" pay system for reporters without negotiating with the Newspaper Guild. The NLRB judge ordered the companies to return strikers to their jobs.
Eleven months later the NLRB is still reviewing the decision.
The May 20 protest was the latest step of the union campaign to keep the spotlight of public opinion on the corporations.
Newspaper unionists actively promote a subscribers boycott of the two papers and Gannett's flagship newspaper, USA Today. They urge public officials and others not to talk to reporters for the papers; as a result, only two of the nine Detroit City Council members will speak to the papers. Many overpasses on the freeway system have recently had their "No News or Free Press" signs replaced.
Unionists from the Detroit newspapers can be found on numerous picket lines around North America. Over the last winter and early spring, they organized a tour of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, northern California, Oregon, and Washington. John Martin, a printer, reported that in Toronto they spoke at a "a couple big union meetings, with the labor council and at the International Women's Day Festival."
Religious figures in the area have been adding to the public pressure on the companies. Organized as the Religious Leaders for Justice at the Detroit Newspapers, they called a "summit" meeting of elected officials and others trying to find an end to the lockout.
A meeting of 300 took place May 18, including representatives of 24 local city councils and the three county commissions in the metropolitan area. The newspapers declined an invitation to attend.
March draws solidarity from others
The demonstrators, who included newspaper unionists as
well as members of the Steelworkers, Auto Workers, building
trades unions, marched from a downtown park to the offices
of the NLRB and then rallied in front of the Detroit News
Building. The marchers protested the refusal of the
companies to return all strikers to their jobs and the delay
of the NLRB review process, and expressed support for 500
strikers who have reclaimed their jobs since the end of the
strike 15 months ago.
The newspapers indicate that about 750 unionists remain on a "preferential hiring list" that does not count the 200 workers fired for strike-related activity. Many of these have their own NLRB case against the employers.
John Peralta, a Teamster mailer with 23 years at the newspapers who has been rehired, told the demonstrators that he was only working part-time. "We have 25 full-timers with 40 years seniority who are treated like dirt," he said. But he added, "Union workers in there are not going away. We're going to fight for an honest contract, including for all the fired workers." He ended by underscoring, "That is what it's all about - solidarity."
Members of the Newspaper Guild recently got another reminder of the newspaper bosses' attitude toward them. The News announced a new plan of pay increases for reporters, with raises varying between zero to 35 percent. In response, the union proposed an annual raise of 3.5 percent for everyone in union jobs at the paper. The employer rejected it.
John Sarge is a member of the United Auto Workers and is the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 14th District in Michigan.