SEATTLE NEWSPAPER WORKERS VOTE TO AUTHORIZE STRIKE

By: Joel Davis Meanwhile, Labor Problems Solved In California





SACRAMENTO, Calif. - While fewer subscribers are newspaper-less in the San Francisco Bay Area as striking carriers return to work or are replaced, two dailies may become staff-less in Seattle.



Workers at the jointly operated Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times have voted to authorize a strike. As they did earlier in the month when strike talk started, management played down a possible walkout. "It's a fairly common practice here," John Currie, business manager of the Post-Intelligencer, told the paper. "I think the goal is for all of us to reach an agreement."



The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild represents about 900 members at the papers, including advertising, circulation, and editorial employees. Guild members are working under a contract that expired July 21. The main issue is money, and the Guild, citing Seattle's high cost of living, is reportedly asking a pay boost of $3.50 a hour for all members. A strike deadline has not been set.



In the Bay Area, San Jose Mercury News carriers have ended their walkout with concessions from management. Carriers who staged a similar strike at the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner weren't so lucky.



Following a five-day walkout that left up to 67,000 subscribers without a paper, the Mercury News approved a 12% raise for the nonunion, independent contractor carriers, who had sought a 20% pay increase. As many as 582 carriers walked out, citing rising gas prices and deadline delays that conflicted with their schedules.



Publisher Jay T. Harris told the paper that he's "very happy with the way things were resolved" and that there would be no punishment for carriers who walked out. The paper also agreed to rehire four carriers who were fired when replacements were found.



Although the San Jose walkout triggered a similar job action at the jointly operated Chronicle and Examiner, there wasn't as much solidarity. Only 40 out of 2,000 carriers for the two papers walked off the job Oct. 16, picketing the Chronicle while demanding more money.



Stephen Johnson, circulation director for the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, said Wednesday that 27 of the 40 striking carriers have been replaced, and he expected to replace the remaining 13 by the end of last week. He added that the walkout caused between 4,000 to 5,000 papers to be delivered late by fill-in and replacement carriers still learning routes.



Johnson, who said replacement carriers are relatively easy to find in San Francisco, said the walkout took him by surprise because carriers got a 30% raise in 1998 and were recently subsidized a nickel a copy for delivering heavier Sunday papers.







Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.







Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.