ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170077
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DETROIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Leaders of the unions on strike for 19 months against Detroit's daily newspapers made an unconditional offer Friday to return to work, calling it a legal maneuver, not a surrender or end to the strike.
But company officials said that if all six striking unions follow through on the unconditional offer, the strike would be over.
``They can't have it both ways,'' said Detroit Newspapers Inc. Vice President Susie Ellwood. ``It's sort of like being slightly pregnant. You are on strike, or you are not on strike.''
Detroit News editor and publisher Robert Giles and Detroit Free Press publisher Heath Meriwether both expressed relief that the strike appears to be ``officially over.''
The offer marks a major turn in a story that John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, last year described as the most significant labor battle in the United States.
If the newspapers reinstate them, the strikers would return to their old jobs; but initially, they would have no union contract.
If the newspapers refuse to take strikers back, and if the National Labor Relations Board proves its allegations that the newspapers caused the strike through bad-faith bargaining, the strikers would be eligible for back pay, starting on the day of the offer.
The newspapers are backed by some of the largest media conglomerates. The News is owned by Gannett Co. Inc; the Free Press is owned by Knight-Ridder Inc.
The six striking unions consist of journalists, drivers, circulation clerks, mailers, press operators and layout specialists at the newspapers.
- Knight-Ridder/Tribune
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB