Artist:
Detroit Cultural Workers and Artists Caucus

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DCWAC . . .
500 Days
by Bob Vasseur

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UAW Marching Past Detroit News office, April 1996. Photo: Pat Beck. Click to enlarge.

The 1995 Detroit Newspaper Strike electrified the city as nothing had for over a generation. Media pose as the conscience of capital, and Detroit has a tradition of militancy. These factors brought thousands of people into the streets at the papers' production plants.

Strikers put out their own newspaper with as many as 30,000 sold and a press run of 300,000 weekly. Newspaper owners Gannett and Knight-Ridder took over $250 million in losses and missed profits. The papers' circulation declined by a third. An AFL-CIO-sponsored support coalition had weekly meetings of up to 300 supporters. The coalition called for violating the court injunction, sympathy strikes, and a mass action strategy.

The local union leadership wasn't willing to take risks. Militancy declined as the strike lingered into its third year. Falling back on a legal strategy the unions ended the strike formally in 1997. The dispute became a lockout. The courts eventually sided with the newspapers. The parties settled on company terms in 2000.

Emotions of the struggle were still peaking in November 1996. Striker Bob Vasseur, a Teamster mailer, saw a bulletin saying it was near the 500-day mark. He realized: "We were going to be picketing until the scabs were gone."

He went home to the piano. A slow blues started flowing from the heart. Bob brought his band into a studio. They recorded it in one take with no rehearsal. Originally Bob tried to sing it, but he was hoarse from yelling at scabs. Kris Peterson came in and overdubbed the vocals. It became the title track for a CD of newspaper strike songs, now out of print.

The pictures are by striking photographers Pat Beck and Daymon Hartley.

Walking 500 Days

Vega says I'm replaced, you know I gotta save face
2000 people just walked out of the place
Scab News, you can't believe what you read
Walking 500 days, 'cause the scabs still got to leave.

We're holding our signs, got the moral high ground
Gannett's only goal is to take the unions down
Scab News, we'll fight as long as we need
Walking 500 days, 'cause the scabs still got to leave.

Sterling Heights cop Jack Severance kicks striking pressman Frank Brabanec during a peaceful picket on August 19, 1995. Photo: Daymon Hartley.

Sometimes I love it 'cause it opened my eyes
But mostly I hate it, I really despise
Scab News, I can't believe what I see
Walking 500 days, 'cause the scabs still
      got to leave.

We're fighting for jobs, and for good wages
      too
Stand tall with the unions, and they'll stand
      by you
Scab News, we got to fight corporate greed
Walking 500 days, 'cause the scabs still got
      to leave.

Well, they're coming for teachers, and the
      postman too
Factory workers got those outsourcing blues
Scab News, greed plants an evil seed
Walking 500 days and the scabs still got to leave.

DCWAC personnel: Bob Vasseur, keyboard; Lee Tilson, guitar; Gordy Mills, bass; Barry Bogin, drums; Kris Peterson, vocals; Marty Krist, sound; Bob Vasseur and Ellis Boal, producers; Pat Beck, Daymon Hartley, photographers.

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