Graphic Communicator photo by Herald Grandstaff

Al Boulay, vice president, Detroit 13N

(The following excerpts are from the report to North American Newspaper Conference delegates by Detroit 13N Vice Pres. Al Boulay. Boulay was called back to work at Detroit Newspapers, the joint operating agency of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.)

Life inside. Sounds like a tale of someone behind bars in a prison. Well, it's not totally untrue.

I'm referring to working in a pressroom with scabs. It has been just over two years since I have returned to work after being on strike for 20 months. There are approximately 90 of us who have returned. Our staffing between two pressrooms is half union, half scabs.

Yet it is still a struggle to have to walk into that building day after day realizing that some of the people you work shoulder to shoulder with are the same ones who crossed a picket line and took your job.

It has taken its toll on all of us at some point or another. Some of our members have entered into therapy sessions or anxiety management classes to help cope with the stress of working with these people.

When I first returned in April of 1997, there were only 10 of us, and we were scheduled on nights because the company refused to recognize our seniority until the following year. It was strange and somewhat frightening to be so outnumbered. But as more and more union members returned, our confidence was restored.

All of the members who have returned are totally amazed at these scabs who think they did nothing wrong by accepting employment in a struck plant. I have on several occasions listened to their reasons why they crossed a picket line, such as money, benefits, or they just needed a job. But even though I hear their pitiful excuses, I will never understand how anyone could steal another person's job, especially when your own members cross over and return to work. It's mind-boggling and totally inexcusable.

Even today, conversation is mostly geared to press work. We as union members have to communicate with the scabs in order to get the job completed, but that's where the line is drawn. I don't want to know how a scab's golf game is, or how his wife and kids are doing. I might be forced to work with them for the time being, but they'll never be invited to my home to share a meal, our children will never play together, and we'll never stop for a couple of cold ones after work.

The scabs came in busloads, stealing good union jobs from union workers who had struggled year after year to maintain good working conditions, wages, and benefits.

We weathered the storm in this bitter labor dispute and after 20 months when I walked back in to reclaim my job, I walked in with my head held high and my union card was still in my wallet. And that's what separates us from them. Pride. Pride in knowing we did the right thing and they know they were wrong.

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled this dispute as an unfair labor strike, stating that management did not bargain in good faith. This is why when all appeals are exhausted we will be victorious.

. . . What we have to do now is educate our membership. . . . [W]e all need to be versed in the labor movement. We need to educate our membership on the advantages to being a union member. . . . I believe that learning about the labor movement is as important as learning the various facets of our trade and is vital to our survival as a major trade union.