Photo by Daymon J. Hartley

This kick to striking Detroit 13N pressman Frank Brabenec by former police Lt. Jack Severance cost the city of Sterling Heights an undisclosed amount in a settlement with Brabenec. The photo made headlines around the globe.

The city of Sterling Heights announced it reached a settlement with Detroit 13N pressman Frank Brabenec over a picket line beating at Detroit Newspapers' North Plant.

The incident occurred on Aug. 19, 1995 – a little over a month after six local unions, including Local 13N and Detroit-Toledo-Lansing 289M, struck Knight Ridder's Detroit Free Press, Gannett's Detroit News and their joint operating agency, Detroit Newspapers (DN).

That night, Brabenec was picketing at the plant where he worked when police dragged him from the driveway and pulled him across four traffic lanes to the median strip. Striking Free Press photographer Daymon J. Hartley's photo of former Sterling Heights police Lt. Jack Severance kicking Brabenec made news in Detroit and around the world.

Under the agreement, the size of the settlement was not disclosed, and there was no admission of fault by the city of Sterling Heights. Strike supporter John Joslin, a member of Electrical Workers Local 58, also reached settlement with the city over an incident that occurred the same night. Police clubbed Joslin on the head and knocked him unconscious.

In other news, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., unanimously upheld Administrative Law Judge Karl Buschmann's March 1999 decision that Detroit Newspapers' unilateral imposition of wage cuts and changes in working conditions on members of Local 13N, Detroit Typographical Union Local 18, and Teamsters locals 372 and 2040 were illegal unfair labor practices.

The company argued that the unions' strike publication, The Detroit Sunday Journal, constituted a clear and present danger of a conflict of interest that interfered with the collective bargaining process. The board noted that the unions pledged from the start to shut down the publication when the contract dispute was resolved and said: "It has not been established that the unions' operation of its newspapers – for this specifically limited duration – would present a conflict of interest which would jeopardize good faith bargaining."

Photo by Rebecca Cook

Like Detroit 13N pressman Frank Brabenec, John Joslin, a member of Electrical Workers Local 58, received a settlement from the city of Sterling Heights for the beating he took from police while on the newspaper strike picket line.

As in the other two board rulings that upheld ALJ decisions in favor of the unions over unfair labor practices by the News, Free Press and DN, the NLRB will have to seek enforcement for its order in the U.S. Appeals Court. The newspaper companies also may appeal the decision. The Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions reported that hearings are scheduled for May 4 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on the companies' appeals of the earlier NLRB rulings.

Referring to a recent ruling and order by ALJ Richard A. Scully for DN and the newspapers to reinstate 50 workers that were fired for legal strike-related activities, Local 13N Pres. Jack Howe said it was interesting that DN sent letters to the union members offering full-time employment. He noted that, with previous orders to reinstate strikers, the company appealed the decisions and ignored the orders. He said a Local 13N pressman who was one of the union members covered by Scully's order was offered reinstatement to a full-time job almost immediately.

Howe said yet another NLRB decision in favor of his local members should mean "a significant amount of money" for pressmen who were denied shifts at Booth Newspapers during the strike at Detroit Newspapers. The union and NLRB charged Booth Newspapers with illegally blacklisting the striking pressmen.

While the unions continue in negotiations with the newspapers under news blackout conditions, Detroit Newspapers CEO Frank Vega admitted during a meeting with company workers that "we need to get a settlement to the strike" to regain circulation lost during the contract dispute.

The Metropolitan Council of Newspaper Unions reported that circulation numbers Vega used show that the strike has cost the newspapers about 20 percent of Sunday circulation. Vega also reassured replacement workers that DN has no intention of firing them.

GCIU locals 13N and 289M and their members in Detroit continue to need the support of every local union and member to help in winning the contract struggle against the giant newspaper chains Gannett and Knight Ridder.

Contributions are needed urgently to help locked-out members support their families. The locals also need donations to help pay legal defense bills, which continue to mount as Gannett, Knight Ridder and their joint operating agency, Detroit Newspapers, prolong the dispute.

Local unions and individuals may send donations to the GCIU Local 13N/289M Special Assistance Fund, 3300 Book Building, Detroit, Mich. 48226. Individuals only – not local unions – may contribute to The Newspaper Unions Assistance Fund at the same address.