Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 00:01:44 -0800
Subject: M-G: Re: M-I: Detroit newspaper strike




On Fri, 03 Jan 1997, Richard Bos <Richard.Bos-AT-hagcott.meganet.co.uk> wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>Although this is quite a long piece, I found it really interesting. It
>was sent to me by one of the Detroit strikers. Any comments?
>                            *************

Hi Richard; 

The striking newspaper workers put out a weekly tabloid edition, 
"The Detroit Sunday Journal". They also are on the Web;  the URL for
the Detroit Sunday Journal daily is:

http://www.rust.net/~workers/strike.html


Here is an article from that esteemed paper with news of what 
is currently going on now.  At the top of the page is a large 
photo of a recent demonstration, workers and their supporters
holding  a six-lane wide banner blocking traffic.  The banner 
reads:  NO JUSTICE  NO PEACE.


STRIKERS SPREAD MESSAGE WITH NEW CAMPAIGN

By the Journal Staff

Newspaper strikers staged disruptive actions last week to mark
the start of a campaign dubbed "Shut Down Motown '97".

"After 18 months on strike, all the actions that we have taken 
have not brought us closer to getting a contract," said striker
Kate DeSmet.  "We believe that it is time to take a more aggressive
route.

"This campaign - 'Shut Down Motown '97' - is about disrupting the
lives of people who have shown little interest in resolving the 
strike.  We're going to disrupt what I call the social, moral,
political and economic fabric of this community, and we're not
going to stop until somebody in power takes a stand on behalf of 
the workers."  

Last Monday hundreds of strikers and supporters temporarily blocked
a section of West Jefferson (Ave.) in front of the Detroit 
Newspapers' riverfront printing plant in downtown Detroit to 
commemorate the beginning of the UAW's 1936 sit-down strike at the
General Motors Corp. complex in Flint.

Detroit police arrested 33 people for civil disobedience and released
them without bond.  Strikers are to be arraigned on disorderly conduct
charges Jan. 14 in 36th District Court.

On Friday at Metro airport, about 60 strikers and their supporters
distributed more than 1,000 leaflets describing fines paid by Detroit
Newspapers CEO Frank Vega for profits he made trading stock on insider
information.  The leaflets also detailed the laws being broken by parent
companies Knight-Ridder and Gannet in the strike.

There were no arrests or confrontations, although the airport was under
heavy security.  Wayne County sheriffs's deputies and other law 
enforcement agents had been notified in advance of the strikers'
planned action.

Strikers also temporarily hung a 60-foot-by-6-foot banner with the
message "No Justice  No Peace" from the airport's parking structure
before deputies made them take it down.

Afterward the group formed a noisy caravan of about 40 cars that drove
continually around the airport's loop.  Strikers honked car horns,
flashed their lights and displayed signs with "No News of Free Press
Wanted Here."

At one point about 30 protesters visited the airport's Budget Car
Rental Office.  Budget is the only rental car company still 
advertising in the scab newspapers.  Budget manager David MacDonald
met with a group of 15 and explained that the company had quit
renting cars to the Detroit Newspapers during the strike and had
pulled all its local classified ads.  But he said the decision to
run display ads comes from corporate headquarters in Lisle, Ill., 
a Chicago suburb.  While strikers listened, MacDonald called
corporate offices and relayed the strikers' demand that the company
pull its ads.

"We want people to wish that we would go away," said striker Nancy
Dunn.  "But we're going to make 'Shut Down Motown '97' a way of life
until we get a contract.  We want people to know this is a community
problem that needs a community solution."

Strikers and supporters will meet at 7 a.m. Wednesday at Hart Plaza
for their next action.  Future targets will be announced.


Detroit Sunday Journal
3100 E. Jefferson
Detroit, MI  48207
1-313-567-9818  Fax: 313-567-9647


Publisher: Dan Zeidler
Co-editors: Susan Watson, Norman Sinclair
Managing Editor: W. Kim Heron

===================================================================Posted by:

Jay Miles / Detroit




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