Chicago Tribune presses ahead with union-busting effort

Scan page 4

у CARRIE HEWITT CHICAGO-Some 1000 production workers, on strike against the Chicago Tribune since mid-July, are still walking the picket lines as the newspaper's negotiators continue to stall at the bargaining table.

The three locals representing the Tribune's printers, mailers, and press operators walked off the job on July 18. The company provoked the strikethe first since 1947—by refusing to back down on a series of blatant union-busting demands.

At the heart of the dispute is the meaning of a lifetime job guarantee that the printers won in 1975, when they agreed to let the Tribune bring in high-tech equipment.

The paper is now trying to avoid its end of the bargain by insisting on the right to transfer workers displaced by advanced technology into different jobs-including maintenance, truck driving, and electrical and other trades. around the The printers' union vehemently opposes these mandatory tranfers. Most of its members, whose average age is 55, have worked in the composing room for decades. New assignments would put them at the bottom of their new union's seniority list and would result in loss of pay and other benefits.

Other major issues are the company's demands for a two-tier wage system and the elimination of pension plans and the union hiring hall.

Goons attack press operators Not content with tough talk at the bargaining table, the Tribune sent a goon squad into the press room a few minutes before the original strike deadline.

According to Sherman Carmell, attorney for the press operators, the Tribune's security agents stormed into the printing plant with guns, clubs, and vicious dogs. Press operators were ordered to shut down the presses and forcibly herded into the cafeteGeneral Motors has agreed to staff the Saturn plant from the rolls of laidoff GM workers. But workers who accept work at Saturn will forfeit any recall rights to their old GM plant. dent Jackie Presser lashed out against the strike, calling it a "crass tactical move calculated to arouse anti-Teamster sentiment in the midst of the current electoral struggle."

At the time, ITU members around the country were voting on whether to merge with the Teamsters. When the results of the balloting were released on Aug. 27, the proposed merger was rejected by almost a two-to-one majority.

Despite these hurdles, the Tribune strikers have continued to fight back.

A strike support headquarters, set up by the Chicago Newspaper Union Employees Unity Council, remains open around the clock and picket lines are organized at plant gates. A support rally of about 1000 strikers was held on July 24, and a spirited contingent of about 1500 strikers and supporters marched in Chicago's Labor Day parade.

The unions now see their main task as continuing to organize a broad-based boycott campaign to apply pressure on the paper's circulation and advertising. Some 10,000 subscriptions have been cancelled since the strike, according to the unions' calculations.

Donations and messages of support can be sent to: Chicago Newspaper Union Employees Unity Council, 1340 W. Washington, Chicago, IL 60607.

work" named site.

GM Chair Roger Smith has stated that he intends to "Saturnize" the entire industry by the year 2000. Unless unionists can mobilize rank-and-file opposition to the Saturn Pact, Smith may realize his dream even sooner.

The Saturn pact must be a major focus of UAW activists at the next national convention in May 1986.

battles for union recognition 50 years ago. He assured the crowd that just like 50 years ago, the strength and determination of the workers would result in victory.

On Saturday, Sept. 7, bus loads of steelworkers from Ohio and Pennsylvania went to the small town of Monessen, Pa., for a march and rally in support of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh strikers. Community support was evident as the whole town turned out-some marching, others lining the street to cheer the demonstrators on.

Support resolutions and donations continue to pour in from steelworker locals around the country.

The importance of this fight is also recognized by many other working people as evidenced by the unanimous vote of IUE Local 717 in Warren, Ohio, to donate $500 and $100 a week until the dispute is settled and by the decision of UAW Local 1250 in Cleveland to take a plant-gate collection for the strikers.

ALL RIGHT, EMPLOYEES.I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE. DROP YOUR WAGES, BENEFITS AND LABOR CONTRACTS! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP, OR I'LL SHOOT!!

BANKRUPICY

INDUSTRY HOK