A Newspaper Strike in a Union Town

By: (AP) The city's daily newspaper has been hit with its first strike in 40 years -- a walkout that has served as a reminder that unions in this former steel stronghold don't have the kind of muscle they once had.

Three weeks into the strike, passers-by honk their horns in support of the reporters, photographers, and delivery drivers in this struggling blue-collar city.

But the Vindicator has managed to keep on publishing with the help of employees from out-of-state newspapers, and the paper is generally about as thick as it was before the strike. Management says advertising has not been hurt and circulation is actually up slightly -- a claim the union scoffs at.

"It's a tough labor town, but it's a tough management town that has fought things out," said Youngstown State University professor John Russo, co-director of the school's Center for Working Class Studies.

The 70,000-circulation Vindicator was born of the same toughness, founded in 1869 by a man who sought to "vindicate" his Democratic beliefs. It was sold in 1887 and has been in the same family ever since -- a rarity in an age of media conglomerates.

The 171 members of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America walked out Nov. 16, demanding raises and health-care improvements after years of concessions. They rejected a contract offer Wednesday, and no new talks are scheduled. Management says it has been operating in the red for seven years, its circulation falling with the region's population, and cannot afford to meet the union's demands.

The last strike at the Vindy, as it is known to readers in northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania, was in 1964 and lasted eight months. The newspaper shut down for a few days at first, then published slimmer editions than normal. Strikers created a competing paper, the Steel Valley News, that stole local advertisers away.

But things are different this time.

The region lost 50,000 steel and steel-related jobs in the late 1970s and early '80s, and there are few steel companies left around Youngstown. Only about 21 percent of the region's work force is unionized -- higher than the national rate, but down from nearly 37 percent in 1986, according to a survey by researchers from Trinity University and Florida State University.

The Youngstown area remains heavily industrial and has become home to prisons and distribution centers in its search for economic growth. But it has yet to fully recover from the fall of big steel; Youngstown's unemployment in October was 12.4 percent, compared with the state's 5.8 percent.

Forty years ago, the larger number of union members in the region probably would have provided wider support for a walkout.

"The environment in the area at that time was a little bit more aggressive than it is today," said Greater Youngstown AFL-CIO President Larry Fauver. The AFL-CIO has circulated a memo telling members to cancel their subscriptions but has not encouraged a boycott of advertisers.

Russo said it is too early in the strike to tell how aggressive the unions will become. "I suspect that over time, the support by the labor community, given its past commitment to social and economic justice, will only grow," he said.

Mark Brown, general manager of the Vindicator, said only around 200 subscribers have canceled because of the strike, and he said circulation is up by 50. Debora Shaulis Flora, vice president of the striking union local, disputed that, saying pickets have seen the company's trash bin overflowing with undelivered papers.

Other newspapers have offered their help to The Vindicator, lending them replacement employees who are getting $20 an hour at the Vindy in addition to their regular salary at their home papers. The Vindy's union members are angry that the company is paying the replacements a higher wage than they get.

In suburban Austintown, a man walked out of Save-A-Step Food Mart carrying a gallon of milk with a USA Today tucked under his arm.

"I'm not buying a Vindicator," said Mike Schaffer, who sympathizes with the union.

But the 49-year-old Teamster said he doubts the Vindy's circulation will be hurt. He said the notion that Youngstown is a strong union town is a myth, noting that boycotts of local nonunion grocers never amount to much.

Shaulis Flora said she has been heartened by the public's support and donations. A list of donors, including pizzerias, churches, and residents, is posted at the union's headquarters.

"People are just kind in this area," she said. "People understand what struggle is. People understand hard times."