Anyone up for breaking a strike?

17-20 an hour in Philly? I thought strikebreakers got big-time bucks for crossing? That hardly seems worth the effort unless you're unemployed or desperate.

 

Here are the basics, although it is a complicated negotiation.
This isn't about feather-bedding or holding out for a large raise.
There hasn't been a significant scale raise in more than a decade
and none is expected now.

The new owners would like to freeze the pension of all union workers,
which is an old-fashioned defined benefits plan, and are not offering
matching contributions to any 401K plan the workers would grab as
a lifeboat.

The owners are also interested in slashing the health care contribution
by the company and want to dock workers for taking sick days.

In addition, the owners have indicated that layoffs will take place regardless
of the contract settlement. If the union submits to major concessions,
the owners have hinted that the cutbacks might not be as severe, but
there have been no concrete numbers given either way. Possibly in order
to make the union blink, the owners have floated a layoff figure of 150 positions
in meetings with middle-level editors. Everyone agrees that would come almost entirely from the Inquirer (since the Daily News was stripped of staff long ago), and, if accurate, would represent nearly a third of the newsroom workforce.

Until very recently, the owners demanded the freedom to ignore seniority as they
lay off workers, a move that would target older workers with higher benefits (and
greater experience to offer the papers, presumably). That just came off the table.

This is a very nasty situation and there could well be a strike. Any support you can offer, in any way, would be appreciated. Speculating on how much one's career could be advanced by working as a scab is not.

 

Assholes.

 

There are a number of Newhouse employees, Ann Arbor News in particular, who have shown in the past they are willing to cross picket lines.

I'm sure they would be up for it. Philly is a lot nicer than Youngstown.

(Posted before reading your response, Slappy. LOL, And go ahead ... name Ed Petykiewicz)

 

Sign Up Soon!! Opportunity Is Knocking!!

 

Well, that was creepy.

 

I am who you thought I was.

 

I mentioned no names, sir or ma'am. I am being nice during this holiday weekend...

 

Junkie, I can hear what you're saying, and I think it's a valid point, but if you're calling me out here ("cushy magazine job"), I had the chance to cross a picket line when I was young and broke and looking for a foothold, and I didn't take it.

Not then, not now, not ever.

 

One of my old SE's was a scab during the Daily News strike in the early 1980s. He hasn't been able to move out of his shitty job for about a decade now, and I know part of the reason he has been shut out of a few jobs has been his scabbing.

 

One of the most vivid memories of my childhood was my dad coming home each night after standing on the picket line in freezing temperatures and telling stories about why he and his peers were on strike and what winning (and losing) would mean for them.

I'll quit my job and work double shifts at Applebee's before I ever cross a picket line.

 

Junkie, while I understand your position -- and I wouldn't judge anyone who felt desperate enough (or whose situation was desperate enough) to cross a picket line -- I can unequivocally say that I would never do it. I would find something else, anything else, and scrap until I found something better. That's an important principle to me.

My financial situation is not enough for me to compromise -- I have been flat-broke before, and survived. I could do it again. But I won't cross a picket line.