Go back to Front pageIn the past few days, there have been several widely publicized incidents of vandalism and violence apparently related to the newspaper strike -- along with numerous cases of strikers being knocked down and hit. In some cases, strikers have been sent to the hospital by the professional strike-breakers hired by management at newspaper plants and distribution centers.
The Conference of Newspaper Unions, representing 2,600 workers from the Chronicle, Examiner and Newspaper Agency, categorically and sternly condemns all acts of violence and urges its members -- and the goons employed by management -- to desist from such behavior during the strike.
"In no ways does the Conference condone any acts of violence by the company's hired security force or any of the 2,600 members of the striking unions," said Doug Cuthbertson, chairman of the Conference of Unions. "This can only aggravate the tensions and impede any chance of progress by Mayor Jordan's efforts to bring about a settlement."
Joining Cuthbertson in condemning any acts of violence in the strongest possible terms were Tom McGrath, head of the newspaper division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Mark Arata, president of the Web Pressmen's Local 4; and Don Gergen, president of the Mailers' Union.
Each of the union leaders stressed that isolated acts of violence carried out by individuals acting on their own could only harm the strike and weaken the strong support the newspaper employees are winning from the community.
While emphasizing that workers' anger does not justify violence, it is important to view recent incidents in the context of an outraged membership among the eight unions. The record is clear that management created the current tense and volatile atmosphere through months of harassment and intimidation by the companies against their workers -- a campaign that helped precipitate the strike.
Moreover, the first violent act was management's importation of out-of-town platoons of uniformed security thugs, equipped with riot gear, to patrol the barbed wire-topped fences they erected all around the Bay Area.
Security guards wearing masks and helmets have assulted strikers exercising their legal right to picket; strike-breaking van drivers carrying non-union workers have driven through lines, scattering workers and sending some to the hospital; while burly goons have intimidated store owners who refused to sell the Examiner and Chronicle.
Despite such provocations, however, the unions are committed and determined to win this strike for a fair contract through lawful and peaceful means, in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time."
Go back to Front page