NEWS INDEX 2001 September

Lecture Monday on effects of three Central Illinois strikes

Mark Reutter, Business Editor
(217) 333-0568; mreutter@uiuc.edu

9/26/01

EDITORS NOTE: Stephen Franklin will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Oct. 1 (Monday) to discuss the future of organized labor in Illinois. The news conference will be at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Stephen Franklin will deliver a lecture Monday (Oct. 1) at the University of Illinois on the impact of three
Central Illinois strikes on union workers.

His talk, based on his new book, "Three Strikes: Labor’s Heartland Losses and What They Mean for Working Americans," will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Wagner Education Center in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign.

A longtime reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Franklin has covered labor disputes at Bridgestone/Firestone, Caterpillar and Staley at Decatur, Ill. His book tells the story of union members caught between corporations seeking worker concessions and an aging union bureaucracy.

Reviewer Duncan Stewart called the book "a heartbreaking account of blue-collar life in the new economy."

As the paper’s Middle East correspondent, Franklin covered the Gulf War. On behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists, he investigated the rights of Saudi journalists after the war. He has also has reported for the Tribune from Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Venezuela.

From 4 to 5 p.m. Oct. 1, the Illini Union Bookstore will host a reception for Franklin in the "Author’s Corner" located on the second floor of the bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign.

All events are free and open to the public.