US West Strike Coverage: You make the call

The demise of labor coverage in mainstream media is now a tired truism. Ask any reasonably well-informed person what the issues were in the US West strike, and they'll likely draw a blank. That's because the media can't be bothered to tell us why US West employees, represented by the Communication Workers of America, were walking the picket line.

When workers went out on August 16, Seattle TV coverage was typically uninformative: Live shots from the picket-lines, and worried speculation about the impact on the consumers.

Newspapers were not much better. An August 16 piece in the Seattle Times by Diedtra Henderson left the impression that union members were demanding a better compensation package. The union was quoted as saying that the company's offer was "wholly unacceptable." "Meanwhile, US West's Washington spokeswoman, Dana Smith, said the company was confused by the union's action. US West offered what it considered a generous pay-and-benefits package, she said." So the issue is money? Not so fast.

An August 17 Seattle Times piece by business reporter Joe Heim contained the typical company vs. union quotes. Managers are filling in, the company is struggling to keep up. Washington Citizen Action accuses US West of failing to invest in infrastructure. Consumer complaints have risen over the last few years. And finally, in the last paragraph, we learning why the workers went on strike:

"Talks between the union and US West broke down when the two sides failed to agree on the company's proposed pay-for-performance plan. The plan, voluntary for current employees and mandatory for new hires beginning in 1999, would guarantee a base salary with an additional 20 percent over the base tied to employee performance."

Notably, an August 25 Times story on the business page contained more information than all the previous coverage on TV, and in both Seattle dailies. Moreover, it was an AP wire story which got down to brass tacks in the sixth graph: "The disputed issues are mandatory overtime, health-care benefits and a performance-pay proposal... The communications workers' strike began Aug. 16, sending about 34,000 workers off the job in 13 states. It is the first strike in US West's 14-year history."

So what's the moral of this story? Don't bother reading newspapers if you want to learn about labor issues. Check out CWA's website at www.cwa-union.org/

New Ink

What do you make of a publication that includes stories on growth management, cloning, the pleasures of blackberry jam, and an essay on direct democracy, all in the same issue? We don't know what to make of it, but it does make a good read. Open Spaces magazine, subtitled "Views From The Northwest," fills an empty niche in the area's literary horizon. This is a magazine that is fun to read, designed for a wide audience, but which is also willing to cover serious topics in-depth and with the thoughtfulness they deserve.

The magazine is hard to pin down, but one recurrent theme is an exploration of the sociological and ecological meaning of humanity's place within the Northwest environment. Issue 2 contained a long and enlightening piece by Richard Benner examining the first 25 years of Oregon's comprehensive growth management, pronouncing it a success. Catalyzed in part by the creeping loss of Williamette Valley farmland, the commercialization of the incomparable Oregon coast, and the proliferation of fraudulent land development schemes, Senate Bill 10 and its progeny have allowed the state to avoid the worst side effects of America's relentless urban expansionism. The plan was pushed by then-governor Tom McCall, who made speeches decrying the "steady scatteration of unimaginative, dislocated urban development.... introducing little cancerous cells of unmentionable ugliness into our rural landscape," and state Senator Hector Macpherson, a dairyman concerned about the loss of the state's agricultural heritage. The law forces cities to plan rather than sprawl, and has kept loss of rural lands to a minimum. Benner argues that growth management continue to work; for example, Portland's plan to accommodate population growth over the next half-century will require less than one-fifth as much land as Minneapolis expects to engulf in the same time period.

Not all of the writing is convincing; the same issue contained an article by Daniel Kemmis called "Democracy at the Headwaters" that makes the dubious claim that the average westerner sympathizes with the "sagebrush rebellion" interests trying to wrest lucrative resources from national control. Perhaps the diametrical views of Benner and Kemmis reflect their different western origins; Benner is from Oregon, and Kemmis is from Montana. This is a magazine happy to present views as disparate as the lands of the West it covers. You won't like everything you read here, but you won't be bored. Subscriptions cost $25 per year for four issues, and can be had by calling (503) 227-5764 in the Portland area, or (800) 448-5271 elsewhere. The web address is www.open-spaces.com