On October 16, they won a 12 percent wage increase, protection from being forced to collect payments from subscribers or paying for missed deliveries, amnesty for those who took part in the strike, and reinstatement of four carriers whose contracts the Mercury News had terminated at the start of the walkout.

Many carriers begin their day at 3:00 a.m., delivering papers seven days a week, 365 days a year. They pay all their own expenses--from a vehicle, fuel, and insurance to plastic bags and rubber bands. Before they won the present settlement, carriers could be charged up to $2 for missing a delivery of a workday paper that retails for 35 cents, or up to $5 for a $1 Sunday edition.

Delinquent payments by subscribers were deducted from the carriers' paychecks, even when, as in one case, the subscriber had died without canceling his subscription. The newspaper bosses justifies this policy by claiming that all the newspaper carriers are "independent contractors."

One goal the carriers had hoped to achieve still lies before them. Many hope to join an organized labor union and be less susceptible to future unfair labor demands.