Detroit's Bitter Labor Battles Not Repeated in '03

By: Mark Fitzgerald After 2,500 union workers walked off their jobs at the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News on July 13, 1995, it took 1,982 days before members ratified new contracts to end the bitter and occasionally violent dispute.

Last week, the four unions (representing a workforce that has shrunk to 1,500) overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with the dailies nearly three months before the old pacts would have expired. The contracts with Detroit Newspapers, the joint operating agency for Knight Ridder's Free Press and Gannett's News, were approved by margins of about three to one.

Both sides say they were able to reach agreements so early for two reasons: Management pressure to control rising health insurance costs, and an improving labor climate. "Both sides have worked hard to develop some long-term relationships since the strike," said Tim Kelleher, Detroit Newspapers' senior vice president for labor relations. "We have new leaders, and lots of new employees."

Lou Mleczko, president of Newspaper Guild Local 22 and chairman of the umbrella group Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions that also includes circulation and production workers, said "it's a far better relationship, but it's a work in progress, and we still have serious and ongoing problems."

Health insurance has been a divisive issue in labor negotiations all over the country. Nearly every major labor action this year has been the result of runaway health care costs and employers' attempts "to foist those skyrocketing costs onto workers," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said last Wednesday.

The new Detroit contract, which took effect last week and runs until January 2007, requires employees for the first time to pay for part of their health insurance. Employer contributions to health insurance for retirees were capped, and new employees were made ineligible for insurance after retirement. "The costs were just skyrocketing. We'd been seeing increases of 15% or better every year," Kelleher said.

Mleczko said unions reluctantly recommended ratification of a final offer requiring employees to pay fees ranging up to $70 monthly depending on their salary and health plan. "It was clear to us that Knight Ridder and Gannett were fully prepared to pull this offer off the table immediately and come back with a far more onerous one," Mleczko said.

Under the new Detroit contract, production workers will get 2.75% wage increases annually during the three years of the new contract, while Free Press editorial employees will receive 2% annual raises plus individual merit increases. News employees will receive only individual merit increases.