In the News: Unions Mount Boycott Over Toledo Blade Lockout

Newspaper workers represented by CWA and five other unions at the Toledo Blade are winning support from major advertisers, subscribers and politicians as they battle a union-busting publisher that so far has locked out more than 200 production and circulation workers, including 16 typographers represented by Printing Sector Local 63.

The 350 editorial employees represented by the Toledo Newspaper Guild-CWA remain on the job, but they are expecting to be locked out any day as newspaper management attempts to impose demands to abolish all job security and union security protections in the union contracts.

"This isn't about money, it's about breaking our unions," said Larry Vellequette, Guild mobilization coordinator and spokesman for the Toledo Council of Newspaper Unions.  "We've already offered millions of dollars in wage and health benefit concessions to help make the newspaper profitable again."

The Blade brought in a notoriously anti-union law firm from out of state to handle negotiations and prepared for the lockout by importing replacement workers and putting them up in area motels.

Already, 250 advertisers have stopped advertising in the Blade and circulation has dropped by about 15 percent.
The unions' campaign website is www.stoptheblade.com.