The Anatomy of Two Newspaper Industrial Disputes U.S. and Australian

The Australian newsagent system has no counterpart in the United States. Carrier boys are employed directly by the newspaper.

The Detroit Free Press was founded in 1831, the Detroit News in 1873. The Detroit Times, a 60 years-old Hearst newspaper, was sold to the Detroit News on November 7, 1960; publication was suspended, and there was a large consequent rise in Detroit News circulation.

All circulation figures are from Australian Audit Bureau of Circulations 1966. and published in 1966 Editor and Publisher International Year Book, The Editor & Publisher Co. Inc., 850 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y.

Foremen, assistant foremen and other executives who may or may not be members of the P.I.E.U. Printing apprentices are required to continue work in times of industrial strife; they do so with the knowledge and consent of the union.

Sunday editions usually run more than 80 pages. The Sydney Morning Herald of Monday, February 28, 1966, reported that on Saturday "a total of 1,482,000 copies of The Sun-Herald and Sunday Telegraph were printed in the Herald office and distributed to normal selling points. This production feat was performed by Herald and Telegraph staff men, executives and other employees from both offices. The Sunday Mirror under its own emergency arrangements dispatched about 460,000 copies from its office, using staff men, executives and other employees."

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun are published by subsidiaries of the parent company, John Fairfax Ltd. The Daily Telegraph is published by Australian Consolidated Press Ltd. The Daily Mirror is published by Mirror Newspapers Ltd. For simplicity's sake, this article will refer hereafter to the companies by newspaper name instead of by corporate name; i.e. The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun, The Sun-Herald, or as a group, Herald-Sun; Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror.

Between them, "the two Detroit papers must sign 21 contracts with 14 unions," reported Ronald G. Shafer, in The Christian Science Monitor (Boston), Wednesday, November 11, 1966. About the only significant difference between the two dailies in respect to labour-union contracts is that the Detroit Free Press has a contract with the Detroit unit of the American Newspaper Guild (journalists) and the Detroit News has not.

The population of the City of Detroit in 1960 was 1,670,144. The estimated population of the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area of which Detroit is the central city was 3,918,000 in 1964. Detroit is the fifth largest U.S. city. The 1960 population of Michigan was 7,823,194. Population statistics are from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as published in The 1966 World Almanac, New York World Telegram & Sun, New York, N.Y.

Editor & Publisher Year Book 1966, op. cit.

Unless otherwise noted, the summary of the Detroit shutdown is based in part on "The Anatomy of a Strike", by Staff writer Gene Roberts in the Detroit Free Press for Sunday, November 29, 1964, Pages 4-B, 5-B and 6-B; in part on "How Detroit's newspapers set the blackout record," by Barbara Stanton, Columbia Journalism Review, Winter, 1965, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., Vol. III, No. 4, pages 4-9.

From "Statement by Detroit Newspaper Commission to Governor Romney," signed by the three Commissioners, dated October 13, 1964, and issued in lithographed form.

Editor & Publisher, November 7, 1964, New York, N.Y., Page 15.

The Pontiac (Michigan) Press, on Tuesday, November 17, 1964, Page 22, was one of the ten papers in which the advertisement was published.

The Detroit Daily Press, Thursday, November 19, 1964, Page 2.

The New York Times. Thursday, November 19, 1964. Page 35.

Both Reuther and Hoffa live in Detroit. Their unions are two of the largest in the United States. The U.A.W.-C.I.O. stands for United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America and has a membership of 1,259,000. It is second only to Hoffa's International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chaffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, membership 1,505,000. Both totals from 1966 World Almanac, New York World-Telegram & Sun, New York, N.Y. Page 318.

The Commonwealth of Australia changed from pounds-shillings-pence to decimal currency on February 14, 1966, with £1A converting to $2A.

As it turned out, the Commonwealth Commission's national basic wage decision, announced July 8, 1966, was exactly a $2 rise.

From the transcript of the compulsory conference—page 12.

The Pontiac (Michigan) Press, ibid.