Temporary Labor Convergence

Abstract

This paper examines a history of the union organizing of editorial workers at Thomson Newspapers from 1963 to 1966. In doing so, it outlines the labor organizing tactics that the American Newspaper Guild adopted to “bite back” at the corporation and the communication tools that it used to facilitate those tactics. During this period, Canada’s Oshawa Times, a Toronto-area newspaper, became Thomson’s first and only North American newsroom to be unionized. The union local, the Toronto Newspaper Guild, also won a strike at the Oshawa Times, making it seem viable that the international union could organize more of Thomson’s 42 North American dailies. Grounding this case in histories of labor and news media in Oshawa and resistance in the print journalism industry, this paper develops the concept of temporary labor convergence as a micro-level, short-term campaigning tactic. It is based on a labor standpoint analysis of union archival documents and newspaper reports. In a political economy of technological change and chain newspaper ownership, this paper reveals how newsworkers can challenge established social relations and advance social transformation: by mobilizing massive community support; connecting their workplace struggles to broader social issues; and creating publicity campaigns to communicate these struggles to the public.

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