SPRING OFFENSIVE TOURS Knocked down but not knocked out. Detroit's locked-out newspaper workers are continuing their thirty-two month long fight against the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press and for their jobs and a good union contract. 2000 Detroit newspaper workers struck the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News in July 1995. Following nineteen months on the picket line their unions offered the Detroit's newspaper bosses an unconditional return to work in February of last year only to have the newspaper bosses leave the large majority of them locked-out while the scabs who had crossed their picket lines during the strike continued to do their jobs. More than 1,400 workers remain locked out while the approximately 600 workers who have been allowed to return to work are "locked-in" working without a contract in intolerable conditions. Meanwhile the courts have ruled that Detroit's newspaper bosses bear full responsiblity for the strike because they bargained in bad faith. But the same courts have failed to compel Detroit's newspaper bosses to remove the scabs and give all the locked-out workers back their jobs. It is in this context that an informal network of local union leaders and worker activists in Canada and the U.S. have are launching a "Spring Offensive" comprised of an ambitious series of speaking tours. These tours will mobilize support for Detroit's locked-out newspaper workers and send out a message that the fight in Detroit is the fight of workers everywhere and that we are determined to do what we can to ensure that all of Detroit's courageous newspaper workers win back their jobs and return to work in dignity with a good union contract firmly in place. There will be three "Spring Offensive" Tours. The first tour will take place across Southern Ontario and coincide with International Women's Day events in Toronto. The second tour will span almost the entire U.S. West Coast. The third tour will feature a series of events in British Columbia and Alberta and include participation in a Canadian Union of Public Employees convention in Alberta. Tour events are scheduled for: Tour 1 March 3 in Windsor, Ontario March 4 in St. Catharines, Ontario March 5, 6 & 7 in Toronto, Ontario Tour 2 March 7-12 in San Francisco, CA. March 13 in Portland, Oregon March 14 in Salem, Oregon March 15 in Corvallis, Oregon March 16 & 17 in Seattle, WA. Tour 3 March 17-19 in Vancouver, B.C. March 20 in Lethbridge, Alberta March 21 & 24 in Calgary*, Alberta March 22-23 & 25-26 in Edmonton, Alberta March 27 & 28 in Harrison, B.C. * March 24 appearance at a concert by Chumbawamba. For further details about events in your town contact: For general information about the tour: (905) 934-6233 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] To learn more about the Action Coalition of Strikers and Supporters in Detroit contact: (810) 447-2716 or (810) 574-9539 or write: ACOSS 5750 15-Mile Rd. Box 242, Sterling Heights Michigan 48310-5777
