It's remarkable how seemingly intractable labor disputes can get quickly settled when there's massive pressure on the employer. My favorite story about outside events leading to a labor settlement concerns the Newspaper Guild and the Detroit News. The Guild had won the vote to be recognized as the collective bargaining agent for the editorial staff at the News, but they hadn't been able to reach an agreement on a first contract with the paper, so they set a strike date of July 31, 1975. The Teamsters offered to try to mediate the dispute, and both sides were negotiating at the Teamster hall in Detroit on July 30th when a person barged in to the room and whispered in the ear of the top Teamsters official, who immediately stood up and exited with his staff, leaving the Guild and newspaper bargainers by themselves. A few minutes later, another Teamster came in to the room and said something to the effect of "Jimmy's missing, so you all need to get the hell out of here."
There was no way the Detroit News would let a labor contract get in the way of covering the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, especially since the Detroit Free Press would have scooped the News on everything about the disappearance. Therefore, the Guild got their recognition and their contract, and everyone went straight to work to cover the Hoffa story. All of a sudden the print deadline was far more important than the strike deadline.
Unlike 1975, when the Detroit News' print deadline for the Hoffa disappearance was an unexpected deadline that trumped the strike deadline, the city of Boston and it's public employee unions have known that it was crucial to settle all outstanding conflicts before the start of the Democratic Convention. There seems to have been more than a little brinksmanship from both sides, but in some good news for everyone--Bostonians, the city, the workers, and the Democrats who risked suffering some minor collateral damage if the contracts were settled--the last of the outstanding contracts was settled this morning:
Boston firefighters reached a contract agreement Sunday with the city after a marathon session of negotiations, averting union picketing at delegation welcoming parties for the Democratic National Convention.
The firefighters were the last big city union left without a contract. In the days leading up to the convention on Monday, there had been concerns that union strife might interfere with the four-day event.
"We have labor peace in Boston at this hour," said Mayor Thomas Menino. "There's a climax to every story. This was the time to end this chapter."
The convention begins Monday, but delegates began descending on Boston over the weekend. Scores of welcoming parties were planned throughout the city Sunday.
Unionized city police officers reached a four-year deal with the city several days ago, but had said they would still picket Sunday night delegation parties to show support for firefighters. Firefighter union leaders said they no longer intend to picket. And unionized police officers said they were backing off the threat as well...
Boston's municipal labor unrest has presented a problem for the party, its labor-friendly delegates and Kerry for months. Faced with protesting officers at a recent mayor's conference, Kerry declined to cross their picket line to deliver a speech.
"Everybody looked around the room and smiled and felt like, finally, we can concentrate fully on the convention," Josh White, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, said Sunday.
Again, these contract settlements are good news for everyone. Well, almost everyone. There are certainly some folks at the RNC and amongst the right-wing media who are probably crushed at the news that the contracts were signed, because now they won't be able to show images of union members picketing outside the Fleet Center all week long.
