Daily News strikers stand firm; solidarity given by other unions

Scan page 17

'Union strike supporters have joined the strikers on picketlines... and helped distribute the Real News, an eight-page newspaper published by the strikers to present their side of the story?

The strike by 2600 workers against the New York Daily News is standing firm as it enters its second month. The workers were forced out on Oct. 26 after months of stalled contract negotiations and company provocations. Since then, the strike has generated an enthusiastic show of solidarity from the city's labor movement.

The strikers have demonstrated to the News management and to the paper's owner, the Tribune Co., that this strike will not simply be a replay of the 1985 Chicago Tribune strike. In that fight, management similarly provoked a walkout in order to bust the unions. Lack of unity among the striking unions, especially the refusal of the drivers to go out, led to the defeat of the workers and the loss of their jobs to permanent replacement scabs.

However, times have changed since 1985. There has been a steady erosion of living standards and working conditions in this country, combined with increasing attacks on the right of workers to protect themselves by organizing into unions. As a result, growing layers of labor now see the need for solidarity against the attacks raining down from the bosses.

Since 1985, a growing number of fightback struggles-among them those of the Hormel packinghouse workers, International Paper workers, Pittston coalminers, Eastern machinists, and Greyhound bus workers— have provided inspiring examples of the refusal of segments of the working class to just sit and take it, but to hit back instead. This new sense of militancy and solidarity has been evident throughout the Daily News Roving picket squads Through a concerted campaign of applied boycott, all newsstands in the New York City area are regularly patrolled and "adopted" by "flying" picket squads who persuade their owners not to sell the News. Most newsstands have refused to sell the paper until the strike is over and display "! Love New York, I Don't Sell the Daily News" signs on the walls.

The working people of the city have engaged in a consumer boycott by reading other newspapers and by cancelling their is about 20 percent of its pre-strike figure of 1.1 million.

Eighty-seven percent of major newsstands have reported receiving no copies of the paper for entire weeks, while those that have received them have found sales to be 70 percent to 80 percent below pre-strike levels.

UNFAIR LABOR PRAC In desperation, the company has resorted to recruiting homeless people from city shelters to hawk the paper at street corners. At times, it has tried to simply give the paper away by dropping bundles at curbs and at stands.

Free or greatly reduced-rate ad space has been offered to companies that normally advertise in the News. Under union pressure, most of these stores have dropped their ads, fearing a consumer boycott. This has brought News revenues from advertising to a quarter of what they were before the strike.

The largely skilled workforce that worked in the company's printing plants in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey have been replaced with anyone that could be rounded up off the streets or from out of state. A fair number of these replacements are in their teens.

Other unions give support Several spirited rallies of up to 15,000 have been held, involving every major union in the city—as well as students and solidarity activists.

Union strike supporters have joined the strikers on picket lines, "adopted" newsstands, and helped distribute the Real News, an eight-page newspaper published by the strikers to present their side of the story. Among those who have been particularly acand join in the fight despite the presence Tom McKitterick/Impact Visuals tive are the fellow strikers at Greyhound, as well as the Bell Telephone and city hospital workers, who were involved in successful fights last year.

Also very active in support of the strikers have been the public city employees organized in AFSCME and the Teamsters. These unions are currently involved in joint contract negotiations with the Dinkins administration. The city wants to hold any salary increases 10 a minimum and plans to layoff tens of thousands of workers. A rally held by these unions several days after a News strike rally demonstrated the interrelation of the two struggles.

While the mayor claims that austerity for city workers is necessary because of a lack of funds, to date over $4 million-including a third of all police overtime pay—has been spent on police protection for the News.

The solidarity among workers shown so far in this strike, and the successes that have come from it, demonstrate the potential of united labor action to defeat the forces of capitalist greed. The task for workers in this strike must be to keep up the mobilizations, keep the scab paper off the streets, and win a union contract without concessions. United and self-reliant, labor can win.

places, as company guards have threatened strikers, union supporters, and newstand owners who refuse to sell the Daily News.

It is clear that this private army of stormtroopers hired by the News constitutes not only a threat to the strikers but a danger to all the citizens of this area who attempt to exercise their Constitutional rights. The strikers have asked New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams to investigate the actions of the News for possible violations of state law-which, for instance, prohibit a company involved in a labor dispute to furnish weapons to its guards or employees.

All possible pressure should be put on the city and state governments to expel the imported strikebreakers as a menace to public safety. In the meantime, the strikers must rely on their own self-defense measures to protect themselves from further attacks. -G.F.

----- pull-quotes -----

subscriptions to the "scabloid." Industry sources report that circulation of the News