[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 84 (Monday, June 10, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1039]]


 WILL THE DETROIT NEWSPAPER AGENCY PLEASE COME TO THE BARGAINING TABLE

                                 ______


                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 10, 1996

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, 333 days ago more than 2,000 union 
employees of the Detroit Newspaper Agency were forced to strike after 
the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press refused to bargain with them in 
good faith. In the 5 years before the strike, the relevant unions 
conceded to management demands to eliminate nearly 1,000 jobs and gave 
up countless pay raises to help make these newspapers profitable, but 
this profit only made the newspapers eager for more.
  When these papers began to earn more than $1 million per week, 
instead of using this money to rehire workers and restore pay raises to 
the workers who made it possible, they said it was time for more 
sacrifices.
  Today, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press are losing almost $5 
million per week because of reaction to their antiworker business 
tactics, but the newspapers claim that they no longer need the striking 
workers. Even though the NLRB has issued two unfair labor practice 
complaints against the Detroit newspaper for their bad faith bargaining 
and unilateral imposition of changes in working conditions, they refuse 
to even begin negotiating with the unions.
  I urge my colleagues to join with me in reexamining the Newspaper 
Preservation Act of 1970 which sanctions, joint operating agreements, 
like the one under which the Detroit newspapers operate. The joint 
operating agreement gives the combined Detroit News and Detroit Free 
Press a powerful weapon against the unions by providing them limited 
antitrust immunity for the purpose of combining certain operations, 
such as printing and other production operations.
  Before the workers were forced to strike, the Detroit Newspaper 
Agency earned $56 million in 1 year; this year, with the workers 
striking, they are expected to lose $250 million. It is clear that 
Gannett and Knight-Ridder are willing to sacrifice their economic well-
being in order to gain the upper hand in labor-management relations. I 
urge the Detroit Newspaper Agency to please come to the bargaining 
table and end this impasse.

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