Strib byline strike: Does anyone care?

[Stitch]

Paul Walsh evidently didn't. There are a few posts on David Brauer's Blaublog about the byline strike.

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/

 

[hondo]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

Never did get it about a byline strike. If I turn in a story without my byline, what's stopping the desk from slapping it on?

 

[Stitch]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

Never did get it about a byline strike. If I turn in a story without my byline, what's stopping the desk from slapping it on?

Union contract allows for byline strikes.

 

[Magic In The Night]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

I don't really think byline strikes are effective because readers don't care one whit about bylines. They don't know the difference. There are other more effective job actions, I believe.

 

[slappy4428]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

All the stuff I see on that blog points to a Strib byline strike, not the PP

 

[Billy Pritchard]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

It's the Strib. I have a friend there.

 

[Stitch]

Re: PiPress byline strike: Does anyone care?

I had PiPress on the brain. My apologies.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

I don't really think byline strikes are effective because readers don't care one whit about bylines. They don't know the difference. There are other more effective job actions, I believe.

Agreed.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

They're the journalism equivalent of your four-year-old threatening to hold his breath until he gets what he wants.

 

[txsportsscribe]

Union contract allows for byline strikes.

really? this was something a union negotiated for? time to get a new union.

 

[hondo]

Union contract allows for byline strikes.

really? this was something a union negotiated for? time to get a new union.

Okay ... so exactly what good does a byline strike do? Or what good has it ever done?

 

[nmmetsfan]

It'll really show management....that you are replaceable

 

[RickStain]

If doing the work but not taking credit it for it doesn't work, they just might escalate to doing the work but not cashing their paychecks. That'll really put pressure on management.

 

[Joe Williams]

It'll really show management....that you are replaceable

That's correct. Demonstrate that the readers don't give a hoot and show management that just sticking "Staff writer" on top of stories is a fine way to cover up the fact that you laid off all the veteran reporters making $$ and hide the fact that you've replaced them with less-experienced folks making $.

I've mentioned this before, too. The writers want to show all this "solidarity" with the many inside folks that are about to be dumped by the Strib. Yet it still is seen as so very important to have bylines on stories (hey, hey, look at me, I'm the one who did this work) and no public credit at all on the hard work of copy editors, designers and such. Here, deskers, we'll make ourselves as anonymous as you to show how much we care. But only for a day.

To me, this is like a big boss flying in coach rather than first-class one day in "tribute" to the halving of our department's travel budget.

I'm sure the Minneapolis brass was wringing its hands Tuesday and will seriously reconsider future staff reductions to avoid another grueling byline strike.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

No.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Union contract allows for byline strikes.

really? this was something a union negotiated for? time to get a new union.

Okay ... so exactly what good does a byline strike do? Or what good has it ever done?

Ever? I believe it used to be somewhat effective raising awareness when the newspaper was the most important outlet in town. People cared about what was happening there, and the local ownership might actually feel a bit of shame if they were giving the workers a raw deal and had to answer questions about it at the Rotary Club.

Now, with corporate Satan-spawned owners, a complete anachronism. But it did have some use once upon a time. Someone should tell the Star Trib that time went away with the Purple People Eaters, though.

 

[flexmaster33]

Wouldn't it be more effective if writers changed every "i" in their story to an "a"

Now there's a strike that would catch someone's attention

 

[txsportsscribe]

i was an avid sports reader long before i was a sports writer and i never really paid squat attention to the byline.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

This is part of the usual contract negotiation process, like an "infomational picket" in which the workers are not on strike but picket to bring the public's attention to the company's cheapness. No, most people won't care--unless they happen to be union members of some sort themselves, in which case they might. The purpose isn't to settle the dispute but to fire an early volley in what's usually a long a process.

In my experience, the contract provision usually said that no reporter's byline could be used over his objections. Mainly this was meant to allow the reporter to have his name taken off if he disagreed with major, substantive editing changes (and in practice, this type of protest is best used sparingly). By extension during a byline strike, all (or most) reporters simultaneously withhold this permission to use their byline. But a byline strike usually is not the major reason for that contract provision--it's to prevent management from forcing a reporter to take ownership of a story that, essentially, was not written by him.

 

[Den1983]

i was an avid sports reader long before i was a sports writer and i never really paid squat attention to the byline.

There are actually writers I seek to read their work. But readers, I would assume, couldn't care less.

Byline strikes are so irrelevant.