| In July, 1995, six unions went on strike against the Detroit Newspaper Agency (DNA). The Detroit newspaper strike symbolizes the interconnection of several important political and economic issues the strength of organized labor and it capacity for success, the political and economic effects of media conglomeration, how conglomeration and expanded ownership and production in the media industry has weakened unions, as well as furthered the declining and negative media coverage of labor issues, and the effectiveness of state and federal labor agencies, namely the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in dealing with labor conflicts. The strike is perhaps as good an example of any of the declining strength of unions and the politics of class in modern America. In this paper I consider the relevant political context in which the strike took place, examine the issues leading to the strike, how it developed, and what its aftermath suggests for the labor movement and the political framework in which the struggles between labor and capital take place. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
