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Morale, Support Strong as Ohio Newspaper Strike Enters Third Month
More than two months into a strike by 170 newspaper workers at the Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio, the publisher refuses to budge from a paltry wage offer despite the community's overwhelming support for the union.
At a bargaining session with a federal mediator Jan. 18 - the first talks since Dec. 7 - the union scaled back its proposals to no avail. "We met face to face with the company and offered compromises in the area of health care, overtime in circulation, the use of company vehicles, and wages," The Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 34011 President Tony Markota said. "Our proposal would have saved the company $400,000 over the life of the contract. The company rejected it completely."
Local television and radio stations reported on the union's efforts, further boosting community support for the strikers and helping to keep their spirits up. "Morale's high," Markota said noting in particular the enthusiasm for the strikers' weekly community newspaper, The Valley Voice. "Everyone is doing their part to promote the strike - circulation is delivering the Valley Voice, photographers are taking pictures, reporters are writing stories. We're all doing what we normally do."
The paper is available online at www.valleyvoiceonline.com. Markota said the 51,000 printed copies go quickly each week. Meanwhile a reader and advertiser boycott campaign has targeted the Vindicator, which has struggled to publish and deliver with replacement workers and managers. One of the Valley Voice's front covers was headlined "Trashed" and showed bundles of unsold Vindicators in a recycling bin.
The full seven-member Youngstown City Council threw its weight behind the strikers in December with a resolution supporting their fight for "fair wages, fair working conditions and fair health care benefits." A councilman from the nearby city of Warren publicly burned his Vindicator subscription card at a rally
for the workers and was pursuing a similar resolution.
Also in December, CWA purchased holiday-themed radio and print ads - in the local business journal - that were so successful some readers even sent checks to the local, Markota said.
The strike began Nov. 16 over wages and employees' share of health care costs. After four years with no raises, the paper has offered a mere 1 percent to most workers and wants further health care rollbacks. Yet scab reporters, recruited from newspapers around the country, are being paid at least $20 an hour and given healthy expense budgets.
The recruitment scheme was the subject of a lengthy story in the Gambit Weekly in New Orleans, where management at the Times-Picayune decided it would help the family-owned Vindicator by sending reporters who volunteered.
The story quoted an anonymous worker describing generous incentives to go to Youngstown and cross the picket line. Workers would be paid by the New Orleans paper in addition to their pay in Ohio and travel and living expenses. The Dec. 21 story said four reporters had gone initially, three had returned and two more were headed to Youngstown. At least four other newspapers are believed to have sent reporters, the story said.
Twenty-five Teamsters who work for the Vindicator and hadn't had a contract for 14 months joined the Guild on the picket line for the first seven weeks. In early January, they signed a new contract with the paper and returned to work.
At a bargaining session with a federal mediator Jan. 18 - the first talks since Dec. 7 - the union scaled back its proposals to no avail. "We met face to face with the company and offered compromises in the area of health care, overtime in circulation, the use of company vehicles, and wages," The Newspaper Guild-CWA Local 34011 President Tony Markota said. "Our proposal would have saved the company $400,000 over the life of the contract. The company rejected it completely."
Local television and radio stations reported on the union's efforts, further boosting community support for the strikers and helping to keep their spirits up. "Morale's high," Markota said noting in particular the enthusiasm for the strikers' weekly community newspaper, The Valley Voice. "Everyone is doing their part to promote the strike - circulation is delivering the Valley Voice, photographers are taking pictures, reporters are writing stories. We're all doing what we normally do."
The paper is available online at www.valleyvoiceonline.com. Markota said the 51,000 printed copies go quickly each week. Meanwhile a reader and advertiser boycott campaign has targeted the Vindicator, which has struggled to publish and deliver with replacement workers and managers. One of the Valley Voice's front covers was headlined "Trashed" and showed bundles of unsold Vindicators in a recycling bin.
The full seven-member Youngstown City Council threw its weight behind the strikers in December with a resolution supporting their fight for "fair wages, fair working conditions and fair health care benefits." A councilman from the nearby city of Warren publicly burned his Vindicator subscription card at a rally
for the workers and was pursuing a similar resolution.
Also in December, CWA purchased holiday-themed radio and print ads - in the local business journal - that were so successful some readers even sent checks to the local, Markota said.
The strike began Nov. 16 over wages and employees' share of health care costs. After four years with no raises, the paper has offered a mere 1 percent to most workers and wants further health care rollbacks. Yet scab reporters, recruited from newspapers around the country, are being paid at least $20 an hour and given healthy expense budgets.
The recruitment scheme was the subject of a lengthy story in the Gambit Weekly in New Orleans, where management at the Times-Picayune decided it would help the family-owned Vindicator by sending reporters who volunteered.
The story quoted an anonymous worker describing generous incentives to go to Youngstown and cross the picket line. Workers would be paid by the New Orleans paper in addition to their pay in Ohio and travel and living expenses. The Dec. 21 story said four reporters had gone initially, three had returned and two more were headed to Youngstown. At least four other newspapers are believed to have sent reporters, the story said.
Twenty-five Teamsters who work for the Vindicator and hadn't had a contract for 14 months joined the Guild on the picket line for the first seven weeks. In early January, they signed a new contract with the paper and returned to work.