BY JOHN SARGE
DETROIT - Coming down squarely on the side of big business, U.S. District Judge John O'Meara refused to reinstate workers locked out by the Detroit Free Press, News, and their joint business operation in an August 14 ruling.

O'Meara denied a request by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that the newspapers be ordered to immediately reinstate more than 1,000 members of the six unions who went on strike over two years ago. The unions made an unconditional offer to return to work last February. The companies have only called back 276 former strikers, at least two of whom have since been fired. The injunction sought by the NLRB was supported by the unions.

Rallies in support of newspaper workers in Detroit and Monterey, California, will be held August 21 in cities where Knight-Ridder, owner of the Free Press, has newspapers.

"I'm stunned, shocked," said James Selley, a member of Teamster Local 372. Selley's reaction captured the sentiments of the scores of unionists gathered along with some supporters from other unions at a press conference held at the Teamster Joint Council Hall August 15.

In justifying his ruling, the judge criticized the slowness of the NLRB in dealing with unfair labor practice charges related to the strike. "The board has had unfair labor practice charges before it in this case since even before the strike commenced," O'Meara wrote in his opinion. "The board now asked the court to plunge into this difficult and, in many ways, tragic labor dispute and impose a final remedy... Not good process."

An administrative law judge had ruled in June that the management was guilty of numerous unfair labor practices. A few days later tens of thousands of unionists from across the country rallied in Detroit in support of the newspaper workers, reflecting broad support for their fight in the labor movement. The case now is in front of the full NLRB and any ruling will be appealed to the federal courts, taking years.

The O'Meara claimed he couldn't order the company to rehire the former strikers until the courts rule whether the strike was over economic issues or unfair labor practices, because "part of the economic weaponry given by the law to an employer in an economic dispute is the ability to `permanently' replace striking workers." Early in the strike, the newspapers began hiring replacements, who now number 1,250. The bosses have vowed not to dismiss any of these workers in order to reinstate strikers. Although strikers consider the use of replacements "one of the most odious and inflammatory uses of an employer's economic weaponry," O'Meara said, its legality "is beyond serious dispute."

The employers' stakes were high in this case. An article in the August 4 issue of Business Week magazine noted that "Rehiring would undo management's strategy and set back years of efforts to lift the papers' profitability."

The NLRB's general council stated August 15 that "an appeal is necessary." An appeal of the ruling will go to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Al Derey, chairman of the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions, told the press, "We are disappointed. But this is a setback, not a defeat. Judge O'Meara's ruling does not change anything. The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, and Detroit Newspapers are still guilty." He said the unions would be discussing what to do next and urged continued support for the advertiser and reader boycott that the unions have had in place since early in the strike.

Newspaper workers in Monterey also face union busting by Knight-Ridder. The newspaper giant just acquired the Monterey County Herald and announced that all current employees will be terminated when it takes control. Present employees were invited to apply for jobs at the paper, but management is advertising for other applicants. Three newspaper unions at that paper approved a strike vote August 8.

John Sarge is a member of the United Auto Workers.  
 
 
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