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Strike Rocks The Vindicator, Replacement Drivers Hired"
By Andrea WoodYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Picket lines ring The Vindicator this morning as the newpaper prepares to distribute one edition today with the help of newly hired replacement truck drivers.Contract negotiations broke off early this morning between the Local 34011 of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, which represents 179 employees, and the management of The Vindicator. The union contract expired at midnight."We couldn't bridge the gap on the key issues of wages and health care benefits," Debora Shaulis, vice president of the guild, told the Associated Press.The Vindicator was seeking various contract concessions in a proposed four year agreement. The guild said it agreed to wage and benefit givebacks in its last two two-year contracts and refused to give more. "We no longer feel it's necessary to continue this trend," said Anthony Markota, president of the union.In written communiques distributed last week to employees, the company said the newspaper has suffered from advertising and circulation drops over the past 25 years and that "economic realities" must dictate the direction of the negotiations.The union countered in a statement to its members that only guild members were asked to pay part of their health-care costs -- not management or non union employees. "When we last bargained with the company in 2002, we were asked to give them two more years to 'turn things around.' Now they want four more years of concessions which, if accepted, would mean our members would go eight years without a raise," the statement continued. "If the company says its financial outlook hasn't improved despite concessions we made in our previous two rounds of negotiations, our question is: When will the company stop blaming its unionized work force and start looking inward?"Mark Brown, general manager of The Vindicator, said the company had a "number of issues on the table that involve cost cutting. We've told the guild to the extent we agree to those things and save money, part of those savings will be distributed back to the bargaining unit members, Brown said.The Vindicator plans to publish just one edition today, according to televised reports, and will use replacement truck drivers hired last week to distribute the newspaper to its carriers.The Youngstown Newspaper Guild represents 179 truck drivers, reporters, circulation and classified advertising employees.A contract agreement was reached recently with the pressmen, who print the newspaper. The mailers, who insert advertising circulars, are represented by the Teamsters and this morning refused to cross the guild picket line.The Vindicator is the only unionized newspaper in the Mahoning Valley. Its daily circulation is about 70,000, according to the Associated Press, and Sunday circulation 100,000.MORE: Newspaper War of Words: Will Talks Avert Strike?Negotiations Resume at Vindy as Midnight Deadline LoomsStrike Looms at The Vindicator in Youngstown"