BY GARY BOYERS
DETROIT - The newspaper bosses here may face being forced
to return to their jobs most members of six unions who went
on strike over two years. In June, a National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge found that
the Detroit News and Free Press had carried out unfair labor
practices that caused and prolonged the strike. After the
newspapers refused to recognize that finding, the NLRB went
to federal court August 1 requesting an injunction ordering
the return of the strikers to their jobs. The judge said he
expected to rule within 10 days.
"Rehiring would undo management's strategy and set back years of efforts to lift the papers' profitability," stated an article in the August 4 issue of Business Week magazine, commenting on the hearing. "The papers had expected to turn a profit this year because new work rules enabled them to publish with some 400 fewer full-time workers... The strike may well wind up costing the papers a lot more than they bargained for."