December 12–19, 1996

hit and run

Striking Back

In this, the holiday time of giving, comes word of seasonal good doings. Altruism which in fact dates back well before the most wonderful time of the year.

And Local 10, the Newspaper Guild unit which represents Inquirer and Daily News staffers in editorial and advertising, has been playing the role of Santa.

The Guild has "adopted" a striking newspaper worker from Detroit. Since March, says Local 10 business agent Dave Baum, the Guild has sent Marvin Collins $500 per month to help defray living expenses.

Like hundreds of Detroit strikers, Collins has been walking the pickets during a work stoppage, now in its 17th month.

Collins is not the only beneficiary of union largesse. According to Daily News staffer Ron Goldwyn, many Guild members at the newspaper"adopted" a newspaper librarian named Linda Cowan at the suggestion of columnist Stu Bykofsky. Staffers send Cowan $260 each month via $5 to $10 pledges from employees. Local 10 office workers, says Baum, also pitch in an extra $60 for Cowan each month.

Beyond adopt-a-worker cash, Baum says Collins receives $160 per month from the Guild as a strike benefit.

Both Collins, a maintenance worker with the Detroit Free Press for over 20 years, and Cowan, a single mother of a 5-year-old, work at the Detroit Sunday Journal, a tabloid paper published by striking Guild workers.

The strike against the Detroit Free Press, a Knight-Ridder paper, and Gannett's Detroit News, has drawn attention locally. Last fall, Knight-Ridder ordered subsidiary Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. (PNI) to increase profits from 8 percent to 12 percent, a move local Guild officials tied to Detroit losses. Because of Knight-Ridder's directive, PNI reportedly threatened to close the Daily News.before a divided union barely approved a contract extension.

— Scott Farmelant