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The Evening Bulletin ran an editorial — I assume — today about the newspaper strike. Here it is, in full:
Social change is not linear. Although we like to think of history as a gradual progression, real change happens in dramatic shifts, or “tipping points”. The pending strike by editorial employees at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News marks one of these momentous changes. As we go to press, the editorial employees at the Inquirer are preparing to strike. The unions representing the majority of employees, who actually print and deliver the newspapers, had reached tentative agreements with management and stated “We think a strike is really going to hurt us. We’re going to go to work,” even going so far as to say they would cross picket lines. Say it any way you want, the history of organized labor in the newspaper business just changed.
Strikes are an imperfect mechanism for resolving labor disputes. But then, unions themselves have been in the process of engineering their own demise for decades. Having devolved from their original role of protecting the collective well-being of their members, they now most closely resemble the classic communist state on the edge of collapse. Inherent inefficiencies have made this end inevitable from the beginning. One way or another, a rational model for the industry will emerge.
Yep, say it any way you want, the history of organized labor in the newspaper business just changed. Except that, well, it didn’t. Looks like Soviet Russia’s still alive and well!
Newspaper Industry Will Change Forever [The Evening Bulletin via promohthree]
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