The Newsboys' Revolt

The meeting in Reading's dingy, red brick Labor Temple had been postponed for a week because the chief organizer broke out with the measles. But now red-haired Ronald Haan, 17, was back on his feet, dressed in his Sunday best, standing nervously in front of a hand-lettered cardboard sign that read: JOIN THE NEWSBOYS ORGANIZATION NOW. In the audience sat some 100 teen-age carrier boys of Reading, Pennsylvania's two dailies, the jointly owned morning Times and the evening Eagle. In the back of the room lounged a few adult labor leaders, who had come to observe.

"Fellows," said Ronny Haan, "I am glad to see you here tonight. I know it took gumption to come. We are battling a ruthless foe." He went on to spell out a long list of newsboy grievances, then asked for a vote. How many carriers were willing to picket the Eagle-Times? One hundred hands shot up; 100 young voices cheered. And how many would support a one-day strike against the paper? Again, the same noisily unanimous response. Ben Stahl, who had come over from A.F.L.-C.I.O. regional headquarters in Philadelphia, decided that it was time to take a hand.

"May I just suggest," said Stahl, "that you try once more to get the Eagle-Times to sit down and discuss your grievances with you? In the union movement, you talk first, and if that doesn't work, you picket. A strike is the last resort." This was reasonable advice, and the carriers took it. The eight-boy grievance committee was delegated to approach the papers' management.

Rislcy Meeting. The boys could hardly have relished the task. In the three months that the Reading newsboys' rebellion had been brewing, the papers' management has shown no disposition to recognize, much less meet with, the other side. Against this resistance, Ronny Haan has been able to enlist the names of only 300 of the papers' 1,000 carrier boys in the cause.

Not a line about the rebellion has appeared in either paper. The Eagle-Times even tried to head off last week's meeting by sending letters to the parents of all carrier boys. "We have had a number of telephone calls asking about a meeting of newspaper boys," the letters went. "The answer is no--no meeting of Reading Eagle-Times carriers has been called by the circulation department of the Reading Eagle-Times."

But a meeting had been called by Ronny Haan. Until last March he was an Eagle-Times carrier boy himself, and a good one. So were his kid brothers, Nolan, 16, and Kenneth, 13. Four years ago, Ronny won an all-expense trip to Colorado, but he chose the alternative prize of $150 in cash. He wanted to add the money to the personal savings account that he hoped would, one day, pay for college. The papers refused to pay. That $150 figure was a misprint, they said, and they offered Ronny Haan $18.75 instead. Ronny went on the trip.

Touching Letter. Last March, without warning, Ronny Haan was fired. So were both of his brothers. The paper said that all three Haans had delivered the morning paper late and were also late with their collections. Subscribers did not agree. At Ronny's request, they signed testimonials to the quality and the punctuality of his service.

Ronny also sent a letter to A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany in Washington. "After learning about unions in school," Ronny wrote, "I felt its about time something was done for the newspaper boys." A onetime carrier boy himself, Meany bucked the letter to the A.F.L.-C.I.O. regional office in Philadelphia. There was never any thought of organizing the boys. But, as Jim Gildea, Meany's assistant in Washington, said: "It simply was a touching letter. We all wanted to help the kid."

Since then, Ronny Haan has called three mass meetings in the Labor Temple, set up the grievance committee and enlisted other carriers in the cause. The newsboys have drafted a list of 13 grievances that they would like to discuss with management. To counter this youthful rebellion, the Eagle-Times has chosen to ignore it. "Ronald wanted to have his own way in virtually everything," said Eagle-Times General Manager William Rohn. "We have nothing to apologize for in our dealing with the boys. Our carrier organization is intact. They've never expressed any dissatisfaction." Not yet, anyway.

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