Showdown in Motown

Special to the World

This article was reprinted from the June 21, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

As the Detroit newspaper strike nears its second birthday, a big party - Action! Motown '97 - is planned for June 20 and 21.

It's an AFL-CIO national mobilization. Tens of thousands are expected to crowd Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit to protest union-busting by Gannett Co. and Knight-Ridder Inc.

Six unions, representing 2,500 production and editorial workers, struck the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News on July 13, 1995.

The stage was set for the strike when Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain, bought the News in 1986. Within months Knight-Ridder, the second largest newspaper chain, declared its Detroit Free Press a "failing newspaper" and petitioned the U.S. Attorney General for a Joint Operating Agreement under the Newspaper Preservation Act.

When a Justice Department administrative law judge found no need for a Joint Operating Agreement, the two giant chains mounted a pressure campaign and Attorney General Ed Meese granted the JOA in late 1989 - his last official act before leaving office under a cloud of ethical complaints.

Under the agreement the two newspapers, with a combined circulation of about 1.3 million daily, merged all departments except editorial into one company, the Detroit Newspapers (DN). Each chain owned 50 percent of the joint operation; profits and losses were to be shared equally.

Newspaper unions had opposed the merger, which meant deep job cuts. In addition, Gannett had a thoroughly anti-union reputation. In 1992 a strike was avoided when the unions agreed to contracts providing no increase in base wage rates.

When contracts expired in April 1995, both Gannett and Knight-Ridder were ready. They had arranged to cover overtime expense for several suburban police departments, including Sterling Heights, site of DNA's North Plant. They had also arranged for hundreds, if not thousands, of paramilitary "security" guards from firms such as the notorious Vance International.

The DN stalled negotiations until July 13, and then began to "impose conditions," that is, to make unilateral contract changes.

The Newspaper Guild, two Teamster union locals, two locals of the Graphic Communication International Union and a local of the Communication Workers of America struck.

Although the papers continued to publish, their circulation plummeted and advertisers fled. When figures were finally released in September 1996, daily circulation was down fully a third from the pre-strike circulation of 886,000 and more than 1,300 advertisers had deserted ship.

Based on the companies' financial statements, the unions say the strike has cost the papers more than $300 million. The actual figure probably is much higher.

But, despite losing a third of their business, the newspapers have stuck by their proposals to radically alter contractual relationships and have shown no interest in settlement.

In mid-February the six unions made an unconditional offer to return to work. "It's a new strategy and a turning point," said Al Derey, president of the Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions, the umbrella organization of the striking unions. The newspapers said they accepted "on economic terms" but would only take back strikers as needed, and predicted few openings.

The unions - which regard the strike as an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike, that gives all strikers a preferred status to all scabs - said the company answer was "not yes but no," and declared the strike a lockout and asked the National Labor Relations Board to seek a federal-court injunction that would order strikers back to work.

DN's telephone solicitors called former subscribers to say the strike was over and the strikers back at work. When the unions tried to respond, eight of Detroit's 10 most popular radio stations refused the ads.

But circulation didn't shoot up. Company figures for the six months ending last March 31 showed minimal improvement, with daily circulation under 600,000.

The papers now have recalled about 200 strikers, leaving 1,800 out. Not one of Teamsters Local 2040's 600 mailers has been asked back nor any staffers at the Detroit News. And recalled printers are forced to sit all day doing nothing but read or talk.

The AFL-CIO and the international unions representing the locked out workers have begun a campaign to visit Gannett and Knight-Ridder directors and talk to them personally about their companies' policies.

While some handbilling of advertisers as well as picketing and other actions continue, the locked-out workers wait for an injunction.

They also are waiting for Administrative Law Judge Thomas Wilks to rule on the unions' original unfair labor practice charges.

Wilks held an extended trial in 1996. If he finds the company's ULPs caused or prolonged the strike, management will get a bill for back pay from the date of the unconditional offers to return to work.

Action! Motown '97 gives the locked-out workers an excellent opportunity to break the media blackout and to say:"Knight-Ridder, Gannett, it isn't over yet!"

This article was written by a locked-out Detroit newspaper worker.