First-Ever Blog Strike Helps Hawaii Guild Restart Talks

Honolulu Advertiser workers fighting for a fair contract at their Gannett-owned newspaper made union history last week when reporters staged what's believed to be the country's first "blog strike."

Their action and a landslide strike vote a few days earlier combined to push management to back down from its "last and final" contract offer and agree to new talks next week.

For three days, members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 39117 refused to post to the paper's online blogs, including an especially popular sports site. Many writers left messages for readers explaining their absence. Reporters, photographers and artists withheld bylines and credit lines from the print edition, a more traditional form of protest among Guild members.

The previous Sunday, the Guild, along with members of CWA's Printing Sector Local 14921 and four other unions at the newspaper voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary. The vote, 358-17, also rejected the so-called final contract offer. The previous contract expired last June.

Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the United States, is seeking big hikes in the Honolulu workers' out-of-pocket health care costs. The meager 1 percent pay raise and one-time 1.5 percent bonus offered not only wouldn't cover the increase but would set workers back by about $150 a month, union leaders say.

Even so, they believe the company was stunned that workers rejected it so fiercely and that so many of the 600 workers represented by the six unions showed up to vote. "I think they thought our people would be cowed, and have no choice but to accept it," Guild Administrative Officer Wayne Cahill said. The Guild is the largest union at the paper with 355 members.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat who has long represented Hawaii, met with the paper's publisher last week, then rallied the next day with newspaper workers outside the Advertiser building to decry the health care cuts.

"They just want even more," Abercrombie said, quoted in Honolulu's Star Bulletin. "They've lost all perspective on what this business is all about. Their position is indefensible."

In the middle of the blog and byline strike, Gannett announced that it would return to the bargaining table. Talks are set for March 6-7.

The unusual strike even caught the attention of The New York Times. TNG President Linda Foley told the paper it appears to be the first time reporters have refused to blog as part of a contract dispute. The closest previous job action, she said, was probably in 2003 when Wall Street Journal reporters refused to appear on CNBC during a contract fight.