BY HELEN HUNTER
DETROIT - "The Detroit newspaper strike is no longer a
local dispute. By taking the stance they have, Knight-
Ridder and Gannett have, in fact, chosen to take on the
entire labor movement . . . We are prepared to fight back,"
stated Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers
of America and chairperson of the AFL-CIO Strategic
Approaches Committee. Speaking here August 15, Trumka
announced a national Labor Day weekend mobilization for the
Detroit area.
"Trade unionists from throughout the region will come here to show their solidarity with the striking newspaper workers and their families," Trumka said.
The call for unionists to come to Detroit over the September 2-4 weekend reflects the rising stakes for the labor movement in the newspaper battle here.
Six unions, representing some 2,500 workers including press operators, mailers, drivers, reporters, typographers, and maintenance workers, have been on strike since July 13 against the Detroit Newspaper Agency.
The agency manages the advertising, circulation, and other business operations of the Detroit News, owned by the Gannett, Co., and the Detroit Free Press, owned by Knight- Ridder, Inc. In 1989, a Joint Operating Agreement was reached that allowed the papers to merge certain operations as long as they remained editorially separate.
The unions are fighting to protect jobs, wages, working conditions, and their right to bargain jointly with the newspapers.
Many workers on the picket line explain that the fight is over whether union labor will produce Detroit's daily newspapers. Many other working people in the area see the battle in the same way.
At a recent meeting of the Militant Labor Forum here, Al Young, president of Mailers Local 2040, described how inspiring it was to open letters of support coming in from all around the country. "One of my favorites this week was a letter from a retired auto worker from Pigeon Lake [Michigan] that included a five-dollar check," he said. And from as far away as Honolulu, Hawaii, the Typographical Union sent a check for $1,000.
Support for the strike remains strong among the working class in this area. Tens of thousands of workers refuse to buy the scab paper the company is publishing, and many are successfully putting pressure on stores, restaurants, and factories not to sell it on their premises. The union estimates that almost half of the subscribers to both papers have canceled their subscriptions.
Union locals adopt picket lines
Union members and other working people show their
solidarity by bringing food, ice, cash donations, and
joining the picket lines.
Some unions, such as United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1299, representing 3,000 workers at Great Lakes Steel, have adopted one of the 40 picket sites the newspaper unions have targeted. Steelworkers join newspaper strikers at the Lincoln Park distribution center located near the mill where they work.
Forty members of the Newspaper Guild who work for the Lansing State Journal drove from the state capitol to downtown Detroit August 20 to join their brothers and sisters on the picket line at the Detroit News building. The Guild local at the Toledo Blade sent a donation of $10,000.
Some 50 UAW members, most from Local 160 at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, recently organized a car caravan to join the picket line at the Sterling Heights printing facility, where the company is producing the paper with strikebreakers who are guarded by goons from private security firms.
Donations from the United Auto Workers (UAW), the AFL- CIO, and other labor organizations to a special strike fund provided 1,400 Teamsters their first strike benefit checks August 17. The $1 million fund was set up to provide benefits for the duration of the strike.
The Detroit Metropolitan Labor Council has announced that the city's traditional Labor Day march on Monday, September 4, will end with a downtown rally outside the Detroit News building.
On Saturday afternoon, September 2, strikers and their supporters will assemble at the UAW Local 228 union hall, a mile north of the Sterling Heights printing plant, and march down Mound Road to the picket lines. "We will stay at the plant for as long as it takes to keep the scab paper from going out," said Reverend James Orange of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department, who came from Atlanta to help plan and coordinate the action.
Fred Wright from the United Mineworkers of America, also in Detroit to help with solidarity efforts, said, "We are asking unions within a 500-mile radius to join us."
The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint August 15 against Detroit Newspapers, Inc., for violating the company's agreement to bargain jointly with all six unions of the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions. This development raised hopes on the picket lines that the company could be pushed toward a settlement. Mayor Dennis Archer has asked a federal mediator to intervene in the strike and talks have resumed, but as of the Militant's press time no new agreements had been announced.
In what it described as an act of good faith, the newspaper union council postponed an August 12 mass rally at the Sterling Heights printing plant, but several hundred unionists who had not heard of the cancellation showed up anyway.
Police attack picket line
The picket lines at the main gate of the Sterling
Heights plant have been larger on recent Saturday nights in
response to increased scab activity to produce a Sunday
paper.
Police in riot gear attacked the picket line August 19. This was the second frontal police assault at that site.
On the first night of the strike the cops attacked without warning. Working people throughout the area got a picture of the company and cop operation against the strike as they viewed that evening's newscast, which showed striker Ken Middleton with his teeth knocked out by a cop's billy club. Several pickets were arrested in that attack.
After the first confrontation the striking unions agreed to allow the police to escort scabs in and out of the plant every hour on the hour. On August 19, however, more than 150 union members and supporters had gathered at the plant by 8:00 p.m. When the police tried to clear the entrance to the plant, the workers stood their ground and the cops were unable to force a wedge to clear the driveway.
Pickets began to chant "Bought and paid for!" in reference to the $330,000 the Detroit News Agency has shelled out to the Sterling Heights city government to cover the cops' 24-hour command post at the plant. The cops postponed the scab run and returned to their cars for helmets, shields, and clubs.
At 9:00 p.m., they charged in full riot gear, using their batons to club the pickets. They arrested four workers. As they dragged one of the workers across the road they kicked and beat him, crushing his arm. The video of this beating was played on all the local TV news broadcasts.
By 10:00 p.m., reinforced from neighboring towns, the police numbered more than 50. At that point picket captains organized the strikers to pull back.
The scab caravan, which by then stretched a quarter mile down Mound Road, moved into the plant. As traffic began to move again on Mound Road, motorists who had been delayed by the police action honked enthusiastically for the strikers as they drove by. Jeff Ross, member of Teamster Local 299, was arrested for "excessive use of horn" when he beeped his support to the strikers.
In a telephone interview, Guild Local 22 president Lou Mleczko stressed that the police violence was "unnecessary and excessive."
Steve Marshall, member of United Transportation Union Local 683, and Gary Boyers, member of USWA Local 1299, contributed to this article.