Help Urged for Locked-Out Ohio Newspaper Workers

In the wake of a nine-month lockout at the Toledo Blade newspaper in Ohio, CWA leaders are asking locals to adopt a family to help 215 workers who have lost their health insurance.

The locked-out workers include 13 members of the CWA Printing Sector and more than 200 other full-time and part-time mailers, drivers, engravers and paper handlers who belong to other unions.

The Toledo Council of Newspaper Unions, which includes The Newspaper Guild-CWA, has been negotiating with the company for more than a year. CWA President Larry Cohen said the lockout that began last August was not only an attempt to get the affected workers to give up their union and First Amendment rights, it "also was a cynical attempt to coerce the two unions with agreements, the Guild-CWA and the pressmen, to strike so that workers in those units could be permanently replaced."

But the unions fought back, launching a boycott against the paper that cut circulation and slashed ad revenues. The National Labor Relations Board has issued sweeping complaints against The Blade, finding that the lockouts are illegal and the company engaged in bad-faith bargaining.

In spite of the findings and broad community support for the workers, the newspaper hasn't backed down. The lockout continues. Unemployment compensation for the workers expired March 1, leaving them to survive on union benefits alone.  And on April 1, all 215 locked-out workers lost their health insurance.

The cost for a month of coverage for each family is $823.67, with each single coverage policy running $317.72.  "These staggering amounts are well outside what these locked-out workers can afford and, as you well know, just one unplanned medical emergency without insurance can mean economic devastation for these workers and their families," Cohen said.

He said CWA is asking for donations from locals in increments of $500, which will be sent to a central fund and used to pay COBRA costs for as many locked-out workers as possible. Individual workers will be paired with donating locals to keep those locals updated on the situation.

Members can make individual donations online via PayPal from the Toledo TNG local's website - www.toledoguild.org. Locals wishing to adopt a worker can get information by sending an e-mail to: lockedoutrelief06@sbcglobal.net.