Bonior Arrested in News Congressman, 5 Others Urge End to by Robert Ourlian Journal Staff Writer U.S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PULLGUT SECTION INSIDE: TV LISTINGS FOR THE WEEK JULY 13-19, 1997 THE DETROIT VOL. 2 NO. 35 75 CENTS S u n d a y Io u r n a l CONTINUING THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE AND CONTRACTS ©TDSJ Bonior arrested in News Congressman, 5 others urge end to By Robert Ourlian Journal Staff Writer U.S. Rep. David Bonior was arrested at the offices of Detroit Newspapers and the Detroit News Friday as he led a six-person delega tion that demanded the Detroit newspapers immediately rehire all their locked-out work ers. Before Bonior and the others were arrest ed, a News editor lunged at two of the visi tors, grabbing and breaking the antenna of a cell phone that Bonior was using. U.S. Rep. David Bonior waves to cheering supporters on his way out of the police station Friday Bonior said he had hoped a meeting with with Brad Market and Gloria Cobbin. They were among six people arrested inside the News Building. management would help get the unions and the companies back to the bargaining table. “We need to heal the community, and the only way to heal the community is to put these people back to work and for the newsPivotal hearing set for July 31 papers to obey the law,” Bonior said on the steps of the Detroit Police Department’s 1st By Alan Forsyth appeals court rules. It’s considered Precinct after the six were released on per Journal Staff Writer unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court sonal recognizance on trespassing charges. Locked-out newspaper workers would hear a further appeal. Arrested with Bonior were: must wait at least till July 31 - and Locked-out workers were disap ■ Father John Nowlan, pastor of St. Hilary’sprobably longer - for a federal court pointed that the hearing wasn’t sched Catholic Church in Redford. injunction that would send most of uled sooner, but regional NLRB direc ■ Gloria Cobbin, chair of the 15ththem back to their jobs at Detroit tor William Schaub said the timing is Congressional District and secretary-trea- Newspapers, The Detroit News and normal. surer of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO. the Free Press. Schaub said earlier this month that ■ Bob King, executive director of UAW U.S. District Judge John Corbett the process of obtaining such an Region 1A. O’Meara will hear the request that injunction usually takes “days and p Vanessa Sylvester, organizing director forwas filed Monday by the National Year two: weeks rather than months.” Local 951 of the United Food andLabor Relations Board. A family album O’Meara, a graduate of the Univer Commercial Workers Union. July 31 and Aug. 1 have been setThe second anniversary sity of Notre Dame and Harvard Law See BONIOR, Page 6 aside for the hearing at the U.S. of a strike is nothing to School, was formerly a partner in Courthouse on Lafayette in Detroit.celebrate. But for locked- Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen ■ The NLRB gave the newspapers a After arguments, the judge could ruleout newspaper workers, & Freeman, one of Detroit’s major cor chance to return locked-out workers andimmediately or take some time. there are plenty of rea porate law firms. Dennis Archer was a avoid a court fray. It was the seventh The losing side will almost certainly sons to cheer: making partner there before becoming mayor appeal the decision to the Sixthnew friends, discovering of Detroit. time the papers rejected a major push toCircuit Court of Appeals in Cincinstalwart supporters and While at Dickinson, O’Meara spe bargain or mediate a deal. Page 6. nati. becoming a family in soli cialized in employment law, represent ■ Columnists hint that the strike may If O’Meara grants the injunction, darity. For that celebra ing management. A prominent Demo leave Detroit a one-paper town. Page 9. either he or the Court of Appeals couldtion, see the special sec crat, he was appointed a district judge postpone its enforcement until thetion inside. See HEARING, Page 6 I N SIDE Editorial; letter to Vega 2 Down but not out 13 Toll of corporate greed 3 Striker babies 14 nag8Mnffi888888r>OT'8rpr,2PB*?wrvOT18r‘«sae<Mapwa'm8r<B~«MWY**^^S undayjournal Essays of workers 4-10 Support from Bonior 15 JULY 13, 1997 SECTION S Tales of returnees 11 Buttons galore - 16 S u sa n Wa t so n Two years is time enough to find peace ear Strike Diary, Two years. D Who woulda thunk it? The notion that we have been on strike and locked out for two whole years positively boggles the mind. An elephant could have had a baby in that amount of time. I could have become a manicurist. The Chicago Cubs could have put together a winning streak. The newspapers could have bought a conscience. Two years. What do you give someone who has been on strike that long? Journal photo by GEORGE WALDMAN If this were a marriage, people would be showering us with cotton Bill Brabenec is a third-generation Detroit newspaper worker. or china. But the troubled relation The Brabenecs have always been proud to say they worked there. Since July 13, 1995, “the bloom is off the grape.” ship between the companies and the unions is neither love match nor marriage of convenience. We just want this situation to end. If we were children, our friends Y e a r Tw o: would come to our party and give up toys and books in exchange for ice cream and cake - and maybe a few balloon animals twisted into shape A Fa m ily A l b u m by a clown. But we ain’t kids. We lost our naivete after getting the brush-off from companies we once Strike imperils a four-generation Brabenec tradition loved. And anyway, it seems odd to cele By Sandra D. DavisJournal Staff Writer brate an event that shook up so many lives. or four generations the Brabenecs continuing a tradition is at stake. This might Sure, we are thankful for surviv be the end of a love affair that had lasted ing, grateful for new friends and maintained a proud, distinctive tradimore than 100 years. ecstatic over recent National Labor tion in this town. Since the early Years ago, says recalled Detroit News Relations Board findings that our printer William F. Brabenec, a job with a cause was indeed just. 1900s they have worked with Detroit’s Detroit daily was “one of the first options But we don’t celebrate going out daily newspapers. that any of us would have chosen because of on strike. There’s been too much From secretaries to pressmen and printers to the stability, respect and the aura that sur pain, too many lost lives for that. rounded the business.” Two years. salespeople, 27 of them formed a family tree of “Now, the bloom is off the grape.” In those quiet moments when I newspaper folks who loved what they did and loved Though there have been other newspaper strikes, this am alone with my thoughts, I tell where they worked. one has been long and especially bitter. myself that I must not delight in Then something happened two years ago that caused“The greatest effect this has had on the family in gen another person’s pain - even if that their tree to shake - a strike that forced six of the eral is that, over the years, the decades, the generations, person is a job-stealing scab or a Brabenec kin to leave their jobs. we have always been proud of where we worked. If we management flunky. In those quiet The Brabenecs come from sturdy roots, so nothing werethe asked where we worked, we replied that we moments, I wonder where you draw papers do can destroy their family. But their dreams of See BRABENEC, Page 12S the line between righteous indigna- See WATSON, Page 15S PAGE 2 THE DETROIT SUNDAY JOURNAL JULY 13, 1997 WINDOWS Strike anniversary actions today ★ ROOFING ★ GUTTERS S u n d a y To u r n a l ★ ALUMINUM SIDING & TRIM Stick it to Gannett! ■ 14 Mile and Telegraph Road, north ★ STORM WINDOWS & DOORS The Detroit Sunday Journal is That’s the theme for demonstrations west side. if ALUMINUM AWNINGS published weekly by Detroit across the country this weekend in■ Grosse Pointe North High School, ★ REPLACEMENT WINDOWS Sunday Journal Inc., 450 W. solidarity with locked-out Detroit707 Vernier (between Mack and Fort, 2nd floor Detroit, Ml newspaper workers. Lakeshore). McGLINCH & SONS 48226. Mail Subscription price The local actions will take place The Metropolitan Council of “Three Generations of is $15 for three months, $30 for today, the two-year anniversary of theNewspaper Unions and Shutdown Dependable Service” six months (no refunds). Call start of the strike. Locked-out workersMotown, sponsors of the event, W est (313) 964-5655 to subscribe or and supporters will gather at noon inencourage workers and supporters to 278-2777 for more information. three staging areas: “carry on the spirit of Action! Motown East POSTMASTER: Send address ■ UAW Region 1A, Telegraph and ’97 and join us for Detroit’s own Days 776-8912 changes to: The Detroit Sunday Wick roads, Taylor. of Action!” 22400 Journal, 450 W. Fort, 2nd floor W. WARREN Detroit, Ml 48226. Detroit, Michigan Circulation/Postal community calendar Michigan's Foremost Labor, Workers' Compensation Electric bills hearing set torium of the Detroit Institute of and Personal Injury Law Firm since 1927 The state House Public Utilities Arts to mark the opening of the Committee has scheduled a public “Splendors of Ancient Egypt” Sachs, Waldman, O’Hare, Helveston, hearing on proposals to deregulateexhibition.