Picking on Scabs
“The Sun has an obligation to its readers and advertisers in Baltimore and is committed to continue publishing The Sun without interruption in the event of any work stoppage by the Newspaper Guild,” wrote Rondra Matthews. “Other Tribune newspapers, in the long-standing tradition of newspapers everywhere, are ready to step in to help The Sun continue to publish, which is both its right and its civic duty. The Daily Press will be part of that support. Several Daily Press employees have volunteered to assist in this mission and will be leaving soon for Baltimore. We are proud of the support our employees are providing and look forward to their return.”
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The Tribune, which sent at least four sales execs to Baltimore for training, has an impressive history of coming to the aid of newspapers imperiled by their employees. It flooded the New York Daily News with “replacement workers” when several unions struck that tabloid in 1990. At the time the Tribune Company owned the Daily News, but a corporate connection has not been required. When San Francisco’s Chronicle and Examiner were struck in 1994, the Tribune Company rushed workers west. Sports columnist Harvey Araton, who’d gone through the Daily News strike, pointed out in the New York Times that the San Francisco papers “were not remotely connected to the Tribune Company. That’s how fanatical an enemy of labor the Tribune Company is.”
Robert Drolen, a suburban sales exec for the Tribune, finished his two days’ training in Baltimore this spring and made it home before guild members could corner him with their leaflets. He was the only member of the Tribune contingent who talked to me. “It was a personal decision for me to help my company and to make a little more money,” he said. “My personal position is that I hope I can help the person at whoever’s desk I take care of, so that when they come back it’s in good shape.”
What’s that about? I asked Linda Geeson, the Sun’s director of marketing and communications.
The Sun’s new owners said their goal was to create a “performance-driven culture” at the Sun. This pronouncement infuriated reporters who thought performance had always been taken seriously at their paper, which won a Pulitzer Prize this spring and was a finalist for two others, one of them for its coverage of the sniper killings; the Sun went head-to-head on that story with the Post, which wasn’t a finalist for its own coverage (though it won three Pulitzers). “Many, many people there are passionate about making this a great paper,” Geeson told me. “If you are that passionate and bring your A game to work every day, you should be rewarded for that. But there are people at the paper who after 30 years–or even after 2 years–don’t bring their A game and get the same raises.”
“Based on the events of the weekend, I think they’re developing.”
