Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Massachussets Copy Editors to Cross Vindicator Picket Lines
"YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- At least two copy editors from The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass., are on their way to temporary jobs at The Vindicator, a trade journal reported late Wednesday.Editor and Publisher magazine quoted the same source who called The Business Journal Wednesday afternoon and reported that replacement workers had been recruited from his newspaper. "One needs the money and the other was talked into going by management," said the source at the Massachusetts daily newspaper. "What upsets me is the big newspaper companies are working together to break the union," the source added.Mark Brown, general manager of The Vindicator, confirmed to Editor and Publisher that replacements were being hired. Brown has not returned phone calls from The Business Journal since it was disclosed that the Youngstown Publishing Co., which does business as The Business Journal, was providing professional services to facilitate publication of the Youngstown Newspaper Guild's strike newspaper.The guild struck The Vindicator Nov. 16 after its two-year contract expired. The union represents 179 workers -- five of whom have since resigned and returned to work.The replacement reporters, copy editors and page designers will receive their salaries paid by the newspapers from where they were recruited plus additional compensation well above the $713 per week that striking guild reporters were paid. According to the source at The Berkshire Eagle, the copy editors were told they would work 12-hour shifts at The Vindicator, be paid $20 hourly for the first eight hours, then $30 an hour for the next four hours. Expenses would also be paid including a per-diem stipend of $75."We're paying what we have to pay to get people in here to do the work," Brown told the trade journal. "People are obviously not thrilled to be coming in and doing strike work. But the other alternative is you just shut down and you have no company to come back to. They're kind of talking out of both sides of their mouths," he said, referring to the union."There are no plans for permanent replacements," Brown added. "We're trying to maintain the operations and the vitality of the business so that there is a business for (the strikers) to return to."MORE: Out-of-State Papers Seek 'Volunteers' to Help Vindy The Daily Scab: Oregonian Editor Asks Employees to Cross Picket Line at Ohio Paper"