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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 6, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Detroit newspapers lock out workers

By Jerry Goldberg in Detroit

Two days after the Council of Newspaper Unions-representing the six striking Detroit newspaper unions--made its unconditional offer to return to work, the Detroit Newspaper Agency rejected the offer.

Management for the Detroit Newspapers said they would retain the scabs. Striking newpaper workers would be put on a preferential hire list and called back to work as vacancies occur at the two newspapers, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.

As of now jobs have been offered to only five of the 2,000 strikers.

In response, the union leadership declared that the strike is now a lock-out. An administrative judge is expected to rule some time in the next two to four months on National Labor Relations Board complaints charging the companies with multiple unfair labor practices.

The unions have asked the NLRB to pursue a 10J injunction in federal district court to restore the workers to jobs that remain at the newspapers and remove the scabs, based on the likelihood that this ruling would be favorable.

While many rank-and-file strikers opposed the union leadership's back-to-work offer, they are pressing forward with a campaign to fight to restore their jobs.

A delegation of rank-and-file newspaper workers traveled to Los Angeles, where they successfully pressed the AFL-CIO Executive Council to endorse a call for "Action Motown 97"-a mass mobilization against the actions of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press during the 19-month strike.

The demonstrations are projected for June 13 and 14 in Detroit. Those same days workers in Windsor, Ontario, Canada--directly across the border from Detroit--have called for a general strike and demonstrations against government cutbacks and union busting.

At a Feb. 24 meeting of the Action Coalition of Strikers and Supporters, some 70 rank-and-file newspaper workers and other unionists enthusiastically discussed how to build these demonstrations. They focused on the demands to restore the strikers, including the 300 fired workers, remove the scabs and win a contract.

They also talked about how to link the demonstrations to the overall struggle against union busting, as well to the fight for jobs at living wages and against cutbacks in welfare and other social programs for the poor.

The AFL-CIO has also announced plans to put resources into a national "Boycott USA" campaign as part of the effort to win a contract for the newspaper workers. USA Today is responsible for about 30 percent of Gannett's profits. Gannett and Knight Ridder co-own and operate the Detroit News and Free Press through a Joint Operating Arrangement.

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