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"Elected Officials Support Striking Reporters, Drivers"
"By Dennis LaRueYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Representatives for U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan and Ted Strickland, two state senators and six Ohio representatives, a Mahoning County commissioner and commissioner-elect -- all stood with the Youngstown Newspaper Guild today in its strike against The Vindicator.At a press conference, an aide to Ryan, Pat Lowry, spoke for Strickland as well as he told an auditorium filled with reporters -- many on strike against Youngstown's daily paper -- "It's important for you to stay strong for one another."Lowry said the congressmen are offering their offices to help bring the strike to an end and called upon "the management of The Vindicator to be a real partner in negotiations."The guild hopes the negotiations will resume Tuesday, said Anthony Markota, president of Local 34011 of the Newspaper Guild--Communication Workers of America.All the elected officials who have either walked the picket line with the strikers or showed up at the press conference in support of the guild "are taking a brave political stand," said David Skolnick, the politics writer for The Vindicator who is now covering politics for the Valley Voice, the union's strike newspaper. All received Vindicator endorsements in their last races, he noted. Vindicator management decide who to endorse, he added, not the reporters.Present were state representatives Charles Blasdel, R-East Liverpool, who becomes house speaker pro tem in January; Sandra Stabile Harwood, D-Niles and John Boccieri, D-New Middletown. Sylvester Patton, D-Youngstown, and Ken Carano, D-Austintown, sent written support.State Sen. Marc Dann, D-Liberty, walked the picket line this morning, Skolnick announced, and Sen. Bob Hagan, D-Youngstown, has also sided with the guild.Echoing Ryan and Strickland, all who serve in the state house offered their offices to help resolve the labor dispute. "We stand ready and willing to offer anything we can to bring this to a quick and expeditious close," Boccieri stated. To the guild, he said, "We stand ready to help you in any way we can to help you achieve a just and fair contract."Commissioner-elect John A. McNally IV, now Youngstown city law director, is the city's chief negotiator in achieving contracts with the labor unions who represent city employees. As such, he said, "I have a unique perspective" on labor relations. "I'm not here to bash management," he began, "but to offer support for The Vindicator reporters I know. I read The Vindicator to get local news, not to read wire [service] stories," and teased city hall reporter Roger Smith, Skolnick, and sports writers Joe Scalzo and Brian Richesson. "You have my support and best wishes," McNally concluded.The first issue of the Valley Voice, the tabloid newspaper the guild is publishing during the strike, will come out Saturday, guild Vice President Debora Shaulis Flora reported, instead of today as originally announced. The company that was expected to print the strike paper stopped the presses yesterday, she explained."We were derailed but were not defeated -- and we won't be defeated," Shaulis Flora remarked as the guild members erupted into applause.Markota, the guild president, offered an overview of how and why negotiations reached an impasse and the guild went on strike.He sent a letter to The Vindicator Aug. 25, offering to begin talks and negotiate until the two-year contract ended Nov. 15. The company chose not to begin the talks until Oct. 13, he said.Most employees represented by the guild have not received a pay raise since May 15, 2000, Markota stated, and the guild has acquiesced to concessions demanded by the company in the contracts it ratified since 1993. Since May 2000, the purchasing power of the wages guild employees receive has eroded by 20%, he continued, and they have had to pay increasing amounts for less comprehensive health insurance coverage.Markota said the guild initially proposed a 16% pay increase over five years. The company offered 1% the first year and a wage freeze the second year. "The guild was not interested in continuing to go backwards," he said.Management reneged on its promise that non-union employees would have to pay a portion of their health insurance premiums, Markota charged. The non-economic issues, he said, "They don't want to discuss." He did not go into detail.Before going out early Tuesday morning, the guild president emphasized, his membership was well aware of how long the last strike lasted -- more than eight months -- and were under no illusions that their walkout would necessarily end quickly.MORE:First Edition of Strike Newspaper Available OnlinePublisher Relates Business Journal's Role in Strike Paper"