Detroit strikers hold the line --
'Unprovoked' police attack on workers

by Fred Gaboury

This article was reprinted from the 26 August, 1995, issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

Despite a vicious attack by police in a Detroit suburb, workers on strike against two Detroit newspapers remain firm and confident.

A veteran printer at the Detroit News who witnessed the attack told the World it"was entirely unprovoked." In a telephone interview from strike headquarters, Jim -- who gave only his first name -- described the Saturday night fracas.

"There was a detachment of 25 Sterling Heights police outside the printing plant that grew to about 50, as cops in small groups filtered in from other suburbs. They blocked the cross street with their cars so a long string of buses and delivery trucks could enter the plant. Things went pretty well for about two hours, then the police started putting on their riot gear," Jim said.

"Then they ordered us to move off the grass between the street and the fence around the plant or face arrest. When we didn't move, the cops brought out their batons and billies," Jim continued. "One of our people was knocked to the pavement and a big guy, wearing shorts and a white shirt, started putting the boots to him." Jim thinks the goon is the plain clothes officer in charge of the detail.

Police brutality against the strikers and their supporters has earned members of the six newspaper unions the right to lead one of the columns feeding the AFL-CIO's Labor Day parade, traditionally the nation's largest.

Some 2,600 men and women have been on strike against The Detroit Free Press and The News since July 13. More than 100,000 marchers are expected to fill the city's streets as Michigan unionists express their solidarity with the strikers, and add their strength to the rising trend of militancy within the ranks of the labor movement.

Dan Zeidler is "not surprised" by the behavior of Sterling Heights police. "What the publishers have done," he told the World, "is buy a police force 'to keep the peace' -- and to make sure that the scabs get in to work and the papers they print get out." Zeidler said the Gannett newspaper chain has given the Sterling Heights City Council "at least $300,000 to pay for the overtime police put in to protect the scabs."

As is the case in many cities, both Detroit papers are parts of giant newspaper chains. Knight-Ridder owns the Free Press, while Gannett, which also publishes USA Today, owns The News. Together, Gannett and Knight-Ridder raked in profits in excess of $636 million in 1994.

Strikers at the News and Free Press received a boost recently when the AFL-CIO Strategic Approaches Committee threatened a national boycott against six major retailers unless they terminate advertising in the struck papers. "We call them the Sleazy Six," Zeidler said, laughing as he listed them: J.C. Penny, Montgomery Ward, Lord and Taylor, Home Depot, Dayton Hudson and Target. The AFL-CIO has also dispatched a team to Detroit to help with other strike activities.

The strike was provoked by the Detroit News Agency which, while stonewalling at the bargaining table, recruited and trained scabs and housed them in posh hotels as "negotiations" dragged on.

Since the strike began, management has persisted in efforts to produce a scab paper despite rising anger among Detroit workers and expressions of solidarity from across the country.

Among those visiting the picket lines was Rich Trumka, the New Vision candidate for secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, who headed the list of speakers at a huge solidarity rally soon after the strike began. Other New Vision candidates include John Sweeney, running for AFL-CIO president, and Linda Chavez-Thompson, who seeks the post of executive vice president.