Scab Watch by the Stranger news staff
Scabs, as strikebreakers and replacement workers are derisively called, are an insult to the picket line. They make money while others strike for economic justice. And when a union contract is finally hammered out, the scab is likely to benefit from a negotiated contract without having fought for it.
In short, scabs are un-American ingrates.
Stranger Personals
In the midst of the strike against The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the newspapers have carefully avoided putting the spotlight on their replacement workers, removing reporters' bylines and not giving credit to photographers for their pictures. The normal phone extensions for employees at both papers have been rerouted to attendants.
While Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild officials did not cooperate with this article, sources within the union helped The Stranger compile a list of scabs who have worked for the Times or P-I through part or all of the strike. This list was quite long at first, but many names were removed when their current employment status could not be confirmed. Each person listed here as a scab was called to respond to the allegations against him or her. Several suspected scabs offered "no comment," hanging up without explaining what they were doing in the newspapers' buildings or how they got there without crossing the picket line.
Feelings against scabs run high, but not all scabs are alike. Some of the people have been described as completely unrepentant, anti-union pricks who wouldn't lift a finger to help their fellow workers. Others are merely weak-willed individuals who can't find the financial wherewithal to strike. Still others have been characterized as union sympathizers who had to cross the line for much-needed medical benefits (though the guild has a roster of people in similar medical straits who are honoring the strike).
Whatever the reason, these are the people who are helping the Times and P-I outlast the guild during this difficult war of attrition by providing labor power. It is only fitting that their names appear here in print for the dubious recognition they deserve.
Replacement Workers or Strikebreakers:
Jonathon Anderson, Jim Bates, Chris Cluff, Eric Derr, Julianne Eng, Jeff King, Jimi Lott, Sheila Lundin, Sally Macdonald, Elaine Phillips, Jim Reding, Sandy Ringer, Kurt Slava, Leighton Wingate, Bud Withers.
Reached at the Times or P-I, but hung up or wouldn't comment (status not confirmed):
Patrice Baugh, Brian Cantwell, Connie Heinrich, Phyllis Kristjanson, Lisa Schnall.
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