Detroit Newspaper Workers On Strike

About 2,500 workers at the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News walked off the job Thursday after contract negotiations broke down.

Detroit Newspapers, the company that oversees business operations at the city’s two largest papers, vowed they would continue publishing.

Members of the Teamsters union began setting up pickets as the 8 p.m. strike deadline approached. As the deadline passed, workers filed out of both the Free Press and the News buildings, which are about a block apart on the same street.

The unions’ contracts expired April 30 and were extended during talks until management terminated that arrangement on July 2.

Tim Kelleher, chief management negotiator, said the unions offered to extend the 8 p.m. strike deadline if the company reinstated the old contracts during talks. The company rejected that offer.