WORKERS AT KGHM, Poland's copper producing combine went on strike yesterday
as coal mining unions staged token stoppages in a third of the country's
pits in a major challenge to the government's economic policies.
The strike at KGHM in Lubin, western Poland, where mining unions
representing some 40,0000 workers have been demanding a 30 per cent wage
increase, came despite a management offer at the weekend to increase wages
by 20 per cent. Further increases could only come if the government eased
prohibitive wage control taxes, thus providing a powerful precedent for wage
demands by other groups.
Meanwhile coal mining unions are also demanding wage increases as well as a
clear restructuring strategy for their industry after last week's scattered
stoppages in some 15 of Poland's 71 pits wrung promises of wage rises that
cash strapped managements can ill afford.
In contrast to the copper industry, which continues to show a profit, coal
mining is running at a loss with subsidies stopped in March as the
government moved to control the budget deficit. The industry is experiencing
a coal glut with pit head, power station and export stocks amounting to some
12m tonnes, the equivalent of a month's output.
This has led to temporary lay-offs, which have hit miners' incomes and led
to the present bout of unrest. Polish mines produced 69.7m tonnes of coal in
the first half of the year or 1.5 per cent less than in the same period last
year. Meanwhile KGHM produced 197,000 tonnes of refined copper in the same
period or 3.9 per cent more than in the first half of 1991.
Workers at Poland's copper producing combine went on strike as coal mining unions
staged token work stoppages in a third of the countries pits in a major challenge to the
government's economic policies. Coal miners are also demanding wage increases and a
clear restructuring strategy for their industry. Some coal mines have received higher
wages although the coal mining industry is running at a loss. Copper mining, though,
continues to show a profit. Coal miners have been subject to temporary lay-offs,
reducing their incomes and leading to the unrest. Coal production in Poland is down in
the last year while copper production is up.
Thousands of miners in the Vorkuta region of the Soviet Union are expanding their strike
and are blocking coal shipments. They are demanding the government fulfill promises to
improve living and job conditions. Officials said that the strikes could force fuel
rationing during the Soviet Union's severe winter. A regional court in Vorkuta ruled that
the latest round of strikes is illegal, but did not impose any penalties. Coal miners in
Vorkuta and in Ukraine struck for two weeks in the summer, but returned to work in July
after Parliament passed a resolution, promising reforms.
Thousands of miners in the northern Vorkuta region
are expanding their strike and some are blocking coal shipments,
the Soviet news media reported Friday.
The miners are demanding the government fulfill promises of
improved living and job conditions.
Soviet officials have said the strikes could force fuel
rationing during the Soviet Union's severe winter.
Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov introduced a bill in parliament that
would increase pension benefits by about 40 percent and upgrade
benefits for coal miners, the official Tass news agency reported.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda youth newspaper, in an article giving a
sympathetic view of the workers condition's in the Arctic Cirle
coal-mining districts, said many miners do not see daylight for
months because of their underground work and the sun dips below the
horizon in the winter.
A regional court in Vorkuta ruled that the latest round of
strikes is illegal but did not impose any penalties. The miners's
unions said the decision will be appealed.
Coal miners in the northern region and the Ukraine struck for
two weeks this summer but returned to work in July after parliament
passed a resolution promising reforms, including improved social
and economic conditions. The miners say the government has renedged
on its promises.
The news media gave these accounts of the latest strikes:
Workers at the Vorgashor mine in the Arctic Circle, the largest
mine in the Vorkuta region, continued their strike for an eighth
day, according to Tass.
Komsomolskaya Pravda said night-shift workers walked out at
three mines in Vorkuta and at another one the miners were still
working but were preventing the coal from being shipped outside the
region.
In the Ukraine's Donetsk Coal Basin, the nation's major
coal-producing area, miner representatives were discussing another
strike. Tens of thousands of miners walked off the job for two
hours Wednesday.
Tass said that in Donetsk the miners gathered in front of the
House of Unions to demand that the government set a deadline for
implementing reforms.
Thousands of miners in the Vorkuta region of the Soviet Union are expanding their strike
and are blocking coal shipments. They are demanding the government fulfill promises to
improve living and job conditions. Officials said that the strikes could force fuel
rationing during the Soviet Union's severe winter. A regional court in Vorkuta ruled that
the latest round of strikes is illegal, but did not impose any penalties. Coal miners in
Vorkuta and in Ukraine struck for two weeks in the summer, but returned to work in July
after Parliament passed a resolution, promising reforms.
The objective of demonstrators in mining industries of Vorkuta are to make sure that the government assures betterment in their circumstances. Soviet officials have notified that strict allocations of force fuels may have to be employed during winter. The hazardous conditions of the labourers have been explained in the articles of dailies. Miners’ unions are going for an appeal against the word of the regional court which stated that present protests are unlawful. In Ukraine, the authority did not keep their word of fulfilling the needs and demands of coal miners. In DOntesk, the miners are asking the government to set a deadline for bringing the reforms into actions.
Port workers in Szczecin and
southwestern coal miners today declared sympathy strikes with
miners demanding the legalization of Solidarity, opposition
activists said.
In support of an estimated 3,000 colleagues striking for a
second day at the July Manifesto mine in Jastrzebie, workers at the
nearby Morcinek mine refused today to take up their tools and
launched their own occupation strike.
Port workers occupied the docks in Szezecin, about 250 miles
northwest of Warsaw, and set up a 15-member strike committee, said
Jan Kostecki, a leader of the independent union federation.
A local prosecutor immediately declared the strike illegal,
Solidarity officials said.
Andrzej Andrzejczak, head of the Morcinek mine strike committee,
said: ``We support all of the demands of the July Manifesto mine
workers.''
The mine is about 12 miles south of July Manifesto, where
strikers were demanding legalization of the outlawed independent
labor federation, pay raises and reinstatement of workers fired for
trade union activites.
Police ringing July Manifesto, one of Poland's largest coal
mines, today turned away area residents who tried to bring food to
the strikers.
Andrzejczak said the Morcinek miners broke off talks with
management when they were refused access to loudspeakers and
contact with the strikers at July Manifesto. He said miners erected
a large Polish flag atop the administration building and were
blocking the complex's main entrance.
It was not immediately known how many workers were involved.
The second strike came as Solidarity strike committee members
met with management and representatives of the Industry Ministry at
the July Manifesto colliery.
Adam Kowalczyk, a regional Solidarity leader, said more workers
were joining colleagues inside by leaping over police barricades.
The strike committee issued a communique today saying the
workers would not end their stoppage until their demands are met
and charged: ``The mine management is trying to end the strike by
hunger.''
Police surrounded the mine after workers put down their tools on
Tuesday. Witnesses said about 600 officers were outside and about
3,000 strikers inside.
The strikes mark the eighth anniversary of the birth of the
Solidarity, which Communist authorities crushed in a 1981 military
crackdown.
Miners leaving July Manifesto this morning said wage demands
were based on hardships caused by Poland's worsening economy,
including 60 percent inflation.
``The economy is in ruins,'' one told The Associated Press.
``Miners cannot live on their salaries because of recent price
hikes.''
Miners earn nearly twice the average national salary and receive
extra benefits because of the vital role they play in the economy.
Poland is the world's fourth largest exporter of coal, and coal is
the nation's leading export.
July Manifesto, a hotbed of labor activism during the strike
wave that spawned Solidarity, is one of five coal mines in the
region.
Solidarity adviser Jacek Kuron said there were no reports of
violence and police made no attempt to move into the mine, which is
280 miles southwest of Warsaw and employs about 9,000 workers.
The state-run PAP news agency, in a dispatch late Tuesday, said
the strike was illegal. PAP said the miners were warned that ``they
may be held responsible for their illegal actions.''
The July Manifesto mine is in Silesia, Poland's industrial
heartland.
Eight years ago, a wave of mine strikes in Silesia ended with
the signing at July Manifesto of the last of three agreements that
established Solidarity across the nation. The pact also won
work-free weekends.
Solidarity leaders said the strike began Tuesday when overnight
shift workers refused to take up their tools. They were joined by
workers arriving for the morning shift, Kuron said.
Kuron said mine management then locked out members of the
afternoon shift to prevent them from joining the strike.
Solidarity spokesmen said workers at the nearby Borynia mine
staged a brief sympathy rally but went back to work Tuesday
afternoon.
Also Tuesday, security officials briefly detained 10 Solidarity
activists at the Rudna copper mine near the city of Wroclaw in
lower Silesia.
That mine has also been the scene of unrest in recent months,
where workers have demanded improved safety conditions.
Five strikes in Poland from April 25 to May 10, and brief
stoppages or strike threats in 25 more work places, constituted the
worst labor unrest in the country since the 1981 martial-law
crackdown. One of the stoppages, at a steel mill near Krakow, was
broken up by security forces.
The workers in those strikes also demanded the legalization of
Solidarity, along with wage increases.
Port workers in Szczecin, Poland and southwestern coal miners declared sympathy strikes
with miners demanding the legalization of Solidarity according to opposition activists. A
local prosecutor declared the strike illegal. In support of 3000 colleagues striking for a
second day at a mine in Jastrzebie, workers at a nearby mine refused to take up their tools
and launched their own strike. The strikes mark the eighth anniversary of the birth of
Solidarity, which Communist authorities crushed in a 1981 military crackdown. Miners
are demanding the legalization of Solidarity, pay raises and reinstatement of workers
fired for union activities.
The miners in strike asking for legitimation of solidarity are receiving wide range of support from other mine workers and port workers. Those who offered food for the miners in protest were returned by the police. Miners are determined about achieving success. This is the 8th birth anniversary of solidarity. Price hike in Poland is one of the main reasons why they are demanding for higher wage.
More than 4,000 workers at a coal mine in
the southern city of Jastrzebie went on strike today to demand
legalization of Solidarity and higher wages, a spokeswoman said.
The strike in Jastrzebie, about 275 miles southwest of Warsaw,
comes on the eighth anniversary of the founding of the outlawed
trade federation.
Solidarity spokeswoman Katarzyna Ketrzynska said workers on the
overnight shift at the Manifest Lipcowy mine stayed outside the
mine shaft all night and were joined by workers arriving for the
morning shift.
She said security officers blocked miners on the afternoon
shift, which starts at 2 p.m., from entering the grounds to join
the striking miners. The strike began at noon today, according to
Katrzynska.
She said the miners are demanding the legalization of Solidarity
and reinstatement of workers fired for union activities. The
workers are also calling for higher wages and better working
conditions, and are requesting two lawyers and two economists to
assist them in the negotiations.
Manifest Lipcowy is the second mine in the industrial region of
Silesia to experience unrest.
Workers at the Rudna copper mine near the city of Wroclaw staged
a protest rally Monday to demand improved safety conditions and the
return of Solidarity activists to work. Three members of Solidarity
were barred Saturday from working.
Solidarity was crushed in 1981, when the government imposed
martial law, and was banned nearly a year later by parliament.
On Aug. 16, 1980, workers at factories around the northern port
of Gdansk joined striking shipyard workers to form Solidarity, the
first and only independent trade federation in the Soviet bloc.
More than 4,000 workers at a coal mine in Jastrzebie, Poland went on strike today to
demand legalization of Solidarity, higher wages and the reinstatement of workers fired
for union activities. Workers at a copper mine had staged a protest rally earlier. The
strike comes on the eighth anniversary of the founding of the outlawed trade federation.
Solidarity was crushed in 1981, when the government imposed martial law and was
banned nearly a year later by parliament. In 1980 workers at factories around the port of
Gdansk joined striking shipyard workers to form Solidarity, the first and only
independent trade federation in the Soviet bloc.
More than 4000 mine workers in Jastrzbie are on strike. Their demands are to legalise solidarity and bring back labourers who were thrownout. They are seeking help from lawyers and economists too. Miners in Lipcowy and Rudna are also on strike now. Solidarity was broken in 1981. Factory workers around the port of Gdanak came along with shipyard workers who were on protest, extending solidarity to them.
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today that
thousands of striking coal miners and other workers are urging
railway employees to join the work stoppage and that the unrest
threatens his economic reforms.
Strikes have shut down more than 200 mines and factories in the
country's two top coal-producing regions, official reports said. In
a report to the Supreme Soviet, Gorbachev said they have resulted in
a 1 million-ton drop in coal production.
Following Gorbachev to the podium, legislator Anatoly Saunin said
each lost work day cost millions of rubles that might otherwise help
improve living conditions. ``You mustn't hold a knife to the
throat'' of the government, he told strikers.
Saunin, from the Donetsk region of the Ukraine, the country's top
coal region, said the number of striking mines there increased from
20 on Tuesday to 58 today.
``Now there are reports of calls to railroad workers to join the
strike as of Aug. 1,'' Gorbachev said during the parliamentary
session, which was broadcast on television and radio.
``Such a development of events poses a threat to the
implementation of plans projected by the policy of perestroika,'' he
said, referring to his efforts to restructure the economy.
Miners began walking out July 11 in Siberia's Kuznetsk Basin coal
region. Workers in other industries in the region soon followed. On
Saturday, miners in the Donetsk coal basin began walking off the job.
The miners are demanding more local control over their industry
as well as higher wages and better living conditions.
Gorbachev said he and Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov sent a telegram
to miners in the Ukraine assuring them that any concessions granted
to Siberian miners would apply to other mining regions as well.
He blamed some of the miners' discontent on ``anti-socialist''
elements but said he understood their basic demands.
Government negotiations with strike committees have resolved most
of the miners' demands, including those on pensions and overtime,
but some longer-term questions will take up to a month to settle,
and the miners are refusing any delay, he said.
Central authorities have so far balked at granting miners more
control over their industry.
If the strike spreads to other sectors of the economy, ``We may
have to take such extreme measures that it will hurt what we've been
doing,'' Gorbachev said, without specifying what steps he would take.
He said the lost coal production could not be recovered by
increasing the mines' output because they already work at full
capacity.
Recent reports have put the total number of strikers in the
Donetsk and Kuznetsk regions at more than 112,000, but the number
appeared to be rising.
Because of disrupted coal deliveries, the strike threatened ``a
catastrophe'' at metallurgical and electrical power plants, Tass
said.
The Politburo sent to Kuznetsk Nikolai N. Slyunkov, a member of
the ruling Communist Party body who worked several years in the
tractor-building industry and has spoken about labor discipline.
He held marathon meetings with strikers Monday night and Tuesday
and addressed 30,000 people in the main square of Prokopyevsk, 2,100
miles east of Moscow.
Miners in the Donetsk Basin are demanding a 40 percent wage
increase for night work, improved living conditions, a fixed day off
and retirement after 20 years of underground work.
They also demand that the Coal Mining Ministry trim its
managerial staff.
Tass carried a report Tuesday denying that the Soviet Union's
third major coal region, Karaganda in Kazakhstan, also was on strike.
A proposed law on ending strikes and other labor conflicts is
being rushed through the Supreme Soviet legislature, Tass said.
A spokesman for the strike committee in Prokopyevsk, Valery
Legachev, said Tuesday that Slyunkov ``promised to increase the
area's regular food supplies by 20 to 30 percent, as well as soap
and washing powder.''
Izvestia, the government newspaper, reported Tuesday that
Slyunkov promised higher pay for night work, longer vacations and a
doubling of the wholesale price of coal to pay for the benefits.
The strikes are believed to be the nation's worst since the
1920s, when the country was gripped in revolution, civil war and a
power struggle. Records from that period are sketchy, but fighting
was widespread and industrial production was severely disrupted.
Until Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the official media did not
report job actions in the Soviet Union. Underground reports
described strikes that were of much shorter and not as widespread as
those in Kuznetsk and Donetsk.
Mikhail Gorbachev said that thousands of striking coal miners and other workers are
urging railway employees to join the work stoppage and the unrest threatens economic in
the Soviet Union. The number of striking mines in Ukraine, the country's top coal
producing region, increased from 20 to 58. The miners are demanding more local control
over their industry, as well as higher wages and better living conditions. Negotiators
have resolved most of the minors demands, including those on pensions and overtime,
but others will take up to a month to settle. Central authorities are reluctant to give miners
more control over their industry.
Coal miners seeking support from Railway employees for their protest may endanger the economic reforms brought by Mikhail Gorbachev. The number of members joining the strike rising. The strike began on July 11th. Mikhail added that government has acknowledged the claims of the employees and proper interventions have started. Central authorities are not interested in providing more facilities for the employees.
The National Union of Mineworkers said an estimated 200,000 black gold and coal miners in South Africa will begin a strike Sunday night for higher wages and better working conditions, in what it said would be the largest job action ever to affect the mining industry in that nation.
The strike initially would cover more than half of South Africa's gold mines and about one-fifth of its coal mines, said Cyril Ramaphosa, the union's general secretary.
If workers in mines not included in current negotiations join in sympathy strikes, a total of 300,000 miners could be on strike, he said.
Gold and coal account for more than half of South Africa's foreign-currency earnings.
The union's announcement produced little immediate reaction on South African financial markets, where analysts said a strike had been expected and probably wouldn't have much impact unless it lasted more than a month.
Mine owners reportedly have been building stockpiles for several weeks in anticipation of a strike.
Mining companies' shares rose along with the price of gold, but the metal's rise came mainly in reaction to increased tensions in the Persian Gulf.
The South African rand was slightly firmer.
Mr. Ramaphosa said the union is demanding a 30%, across-the-board wage increase for black miners, who the union says earn an average of 225 rand ($109) a month.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents the nation's six biggest mining houses, says black miners earn about twice that much.
It implemented wage increases ranging from 15% to 23.4% last month.
Anglo American Corp., the huge South African mining house, warned against a strike, saying miners had received a good wage increase in July and wouldn't gain further raises by a job action.
But "at this stage it seems the strike seems inevitable," said Mr. Ramaphosa, who added that there hadn't been any negotiations with management since a strike ballot received "overwhelming support" during the week of July 12.
He also warned of possible confrontations with police, saying: "We have issued instructions to our members that if they are attacked they should defend themselves."
Miners' strikes in recent years have featured clashes with police, leaving dozens of people dead.
"The total mines that will be affected are 28 gold mines around the country and 18 collieries," the union official said.
"Our union is at the same time in dispute with a number of other companies, where strike action could take place at any time, should the various mine managements refuse to accede to our members' demands."
He said such other companies included De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., the world's largest diamond miner.
In addition to the general wage increase, Mr. Ramaphosa said the union is demanding pay for black miners doing dangerous work.
The black miners also are asking for 30 days' leave each year, and a paid holiday on June 16, the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto riots.
They also want an increase in death benefits to five years from two.
The National Union of Mineworkers said an estimated 200,000 gold and coal miners in
South Africa will begin a strike for higher wages and better working conditions in what it
said would be the largest job action to ever affect the nation's mining industry. Gold and
coal account for more than half of South Africa's foreign currency earnings. Mine
owners, in anticipation of a strike, have been building stockpiles and do not expect the
strike to have much impact unless it lasts over a month. Other mines, such as diamond
mines, may go on strike if the current striking miners' demands are not met.
The National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa are foreseeing the biggest job action ever faced by the Nation’s mining industry with the rise of miners’ protest which may have a strength of approximately 200,000 people. Gold and coal mines contributes to the larger part of the economy. Mine owners are hoping that the strike does not extend over a month. Protestors may get support from other mines if their present demands are not accepted.
Coal miners in Siberia ended their
strike today after exacting promises of better food, housing and
working conditions, but the wave of unrest they launched continued
in other key coal regions.
Some of the 150,000 miners who went on strike last week in
Siberia's Kuznetsk coal basin region returned to work Thursday, and
the rest went back today, strike leaders and the official Tass news
agency said.
Despite announcements that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's
sweeping concessions _ including granting miners greater control
over their industry _ apply nationwide, hundreds of thousands of
miners stayed off the job elsewhere.
In the largest coal region, the Donetsk Coal Basin of the
Ukraine, more than 300,000 miners were on strike, the deputy
minister of the coal industry, Alexander P. Fisun, told Izvestia.
In the Karaganda region of the southern republic of Kazakhstan,
the Soviet Union's third-biggest coal-producing area, all 26 mines
were at a standstill, and miners made more than 70 demands,
Izvestia said.
Strikes were also reported in the Pechora Coal Basin in the
Russian republic, and Chervonograd in the western Ukraine, official
media said.
The labor unrest is the Soviet Union's worst in six decades.
Gorbachev has expressed sympathy for the strikers and placed
much of the blame for the miners' deteriorating working and living
conditions on leaders of the officially sanctioned trade unions.
Still, he and other Communist leaders have warned that if the
strikes don't end quickly, coal shortages will shut down much of
the country's industry.
On Wednesday, the Kuznetsk strike committee and members of a
high-level government commission signed an agreement meeting many
demands.
The workers were promised higher wages, increased deliveries of
meat, sugar, soap, clothes, furniture and other consumer goods,
more housing construction and _ most important _ a greater voice in
running their industry.
``It's a victory over the system that we've had in the Soviet
Union for the last 70 years, a system in which we work hard but get
little in return,'' said Pyotr A. Menayev, an engineer at the
Taldinski Severny open pit mine on the outskirts of Prokopyevsk.
Strike committee member Vyacheslav G. Akulov stressed that the
miners had agreed to ``interrupt the strike, not to end it.''
He said the miners would hold the government to its word: ``If
the government doesn't keep its promises, we will go back on
strike.''
The 26-member strike committee met today with a half-dozen
representatives to the national parliament and called for municipal
elections to be advanced from the spring to the first half of
November.
The last local elections in Kuznetsk were held two years ago,
before Gorbachev's reforms made elections more democratic by
offering multiple candidates.
The strike wave began 11 days ago in Kuznetsk, the country's
second-largest coal field.
Tass said late Thursday that strikes had ended at six mines in
the Donetsk region but that most mines in the area remained on
strike.
Miners at three shafts in Chervonograd, near the Polish border,
joined the walkout Thursday night, said Anatoly M. Dotsenko, a
spokesman for the Ukrainian Helsinki Watch Group.
The coal industry employs more than 1 million workers.
Tass today quoted Coal Minister Mikhail I. Shchadov as saying
the government agreed to make all Soviet coal operations
economically and legally independent.
He said authorities had agreed to additional payments for night
and evening shifts and to give workers Sundays off.
Beginning Aug. 1, mines and other industries in the ``coal
mining complex'' will gain the right to sell for negotiated prices
in the USSR and abroad products which they make over and above the
state plan,'' Tass quoted the agreement as stipulating.
It said local managers will be able to raise coal prices to
reflect actual production costs.
Gorbachev is trying to end the longtime Soviet practice of
setting prices for goods that bear no relation to their free-market
value and encourage and end to central control of the economy.
Akulov said that beginning Jan. 1, the Kuznetzk coal basin will
become economically autonomous.
``The Coal Mining Ministry will continue to run the mines, but
the miners will have a much greater say setting production levels
and allocating the profits,'' he said.
``Our politics have gotten freer under perestroika,'' Akulov
said of Gorbachev's economic reform program. ``But our living
conditions have not improved.''
Until Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, strikes were not
tolerated.
Coal miners in Siberia ended their strike after exacting promises of better food, housing
and working conditions, but the wave of unrest they launched continues in other key coal
regions. Despite President Gorbachev's announcement of sweeping concessions,
hundreds of thousands of miners stayed off the job elsewhere. The labor unrest is the
Soviet Union's worst in 60 years. Until Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, strikes were
not tolerated. The coal industry employs more than 1 million workers. The government
has agreed to make all coal operations economically and legally independent. Gorbachev
is trying to end central control of the economy.
Many of the Siberian coal miners started getting back to their work after getting an assurance for their basic demands from the government. Gorbachev and other communist leaders are well aware of the coal scarcity that is going to happen if the strike gets prolonged. The government is planning to give all Soviet coal operations financial and legal freedom. Strikes were not admitted before Gorbachev came to power in 1985.
Most of the country's 1.2 million coal miners are still working, but output
in some key regions has been halved, saddling Gorbachev with a substantial
labor and fuel problem even as he struggles to revive the Soviet economy.;
The strike is the new union's first major test of strength. It began March 1
as a warning action in the Karaganda coal field of Kazakhstan and the
Krasnoarmeisk area of the Ukraine but gradually spread to all of the country's
major coal regions.; The strikers are seeking wage increases of at least
100 percent, better working conditions and earlier retirement. They claim the
government has not kept promises it made to raise miners' living standards as
settlement of a nationwide coal strike in July 1989.; The 1989 strike,
which involved more than 500,000 miners, made only economic demands. This
time, Shushpanov said, the miners also want three major political
concessions.; First, he said, they want "real sovereignty" for the 15
Soviet republics. They are unhappy with Gorbachev's proposed Union Treaty,
which would leave the central government in control of the economy, defense,
foreign policy and communications, he said.; Second, the union is demanding
more power for Gorbachev's Federation Council, which includes the presidents
of all the republics.; Finally, the union wants a "law on property" that
would define what belongs to the government and allow private ownership of
land and industry, including some mines, he said.; According to the state
news agency Tass, the strike has spread to the Donetsk coal basin of the
Ukraine, the Vorkuta and Inta regions of northern Russia, and the Kuznetsk
coal basin of western Siberia.
A one-day strike by coal miners in Kazakhstan and the Ukraine has grown into a
nationwide walkout involving up to 100,000 miners demanding that President Gorbachev
surrender power to the restive republics. Most of the country's 1.2 million coal miners
are still working, but output in some key regions has been halved. The strike is the new
union's first major test of strength. It began as a warning in Kazakhstan and the Ukraine
but gradually spread to all of the country's major regions. Previous strikes have made
only economic demands. This time the miners want political concessions.
Gorbachev is facing severe criticism despite his efforts to enkindle soviet economy. The production in mines is getting reduced by 50%. Along with meeting their economic demands miners have three important official concessions; real sovereignty, more power for Gorbachev's Federation Council and law on property. The strike is advancing in the areas of Donetsk coal basin of the Ukraine, the Vorkuta and Inta regions of northern Russia, and the Kuznetsk coal basin of western Siberia.
COALMINERS from Romania's Jiu Valley, who spearheaded violent anti-reform
rampages through Bucharest in 1990 and 1991, are once again out on strike,
pressing the government for higher wages.
But so far the government, unlike its predecessors, has not caved in. It has
instead begun legal action to have the strike, which today entered its
second week, declared illegal.
The miners' position seems untenable. Romanians appear solidly opposed to
the strike, angered by the miners' demands for an average wage of the
equivalent of Dollars 290 a month. Most workers earn less than Dollars 80.
Workers in the same trade union confederation as the miners have ignored
appeals by their leaders to strike in solidarity.
The Ministry of Industry argues that the 6m tonnes of pit coal produced each
year in the Jiu Valley's 13 mines is not a vital source of energy. The
region's coal supplies two nearby power stations but these plants, which
together account for only 4 per cent of the country's electricity capacity,
could also be run using lignite and gas.
The ministry further argues that the miners are in danger of pricing their
coal out of the market. According to the ministry, if the miners' pay
demands were met, the cost of their coal would double. Even at present
prices, Ukrainian coal is being imported to the Romanian market.
The strike seems motivated by a number of factors. The rank and file have
come out because they want more money to compensate for the difficult
conditions in which they live and work.
They are also following the call of their charismatic leader, Mr Miron
Cosma, the man who led them on protests to Bucharest and secured their
earlier wage increases.
Mr Cosma's motive for calling the strike - for which, surprisingly, he has
the support of RAH, the state-owned coal mining company - are less obvious.
The ministries of industry and finance are conducting investigations into
charges of fraud and embezzlement by Mr Cosma and several senior RAH company
officials. The company's chief accountant and budget director have already
been fired, following earlier investigations.
Ministry of Industry officials argue the strike could be an attempt to
divert attention from the investigations.
Mr Cosma, however, appears confident. One of his bargaining tools is the
threat, albeit veiled, of fresh violence.
In response to the question as to whether he intends to lead his men, who
appear to support him whole-heartedly, to Bucharest again, he says: 'With
miners, anything is possible.'
But he is also making political threats. In recent months, Mr Cosma has
claimed he has evidence that senior government officials, including
President Ion Iliescu, called miners to Bucharest as part of plans to
consolidate their own power.
Mr Cosma appears increasingly willing to talk if his demands are not met. It
remains to be seen whether those involved in the incidents of 1990 and 1991
now feel confident enough to ignore him.
Coal miners from Romania's Jiu Valley, who spearheaded violent anti-reform rampages
through Bucharest in 1990 and 1991, are once again out on strike, pressing the
government for higher wages. So far the government, unlike its predecessor has not
caved in but has begun action to have the strike declared illegal. Romanians, most of
who earn far less than the striking miners, appear solidly opposed to the strike. The
miners want more compensation for the difficult conditions in which they work and live.
They are also following their charismatic leader, Miron Cosma, who led them on
previously successful strikes.
Coal miners from Romania's Jiu Valley are on a riot again asking to increase their wages. Government affirmed that the strike is illicit. There are Romanians who are against the protest. Miners demand more compensation due to the conditions in which they work and live. They are still persuaded by people like Miron Cosma, who led their earlier protests.
More than 10,000 coal miners in four
states were off the job today to express sympathy for miners in
Virginia and West Virginia who have waged a bitter strike since
April against the Pittston Coal Group.
Miners in Pennsylvania and Kentucky today became the third and
fourth states to report walkouts at coal companies. The sympathy
strikes began Monday in West Virginia and spread to Indiana late
Thursday.
One United Mine Workers representative said today that the
Indiana walkout was prompted by Thursday night's telecast of CBS'
``48 Hours,'' which focused on the Pittston strike, in which 1,600
miners have been off the job since April.
Pittston dropped out of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association
to negotiate with the union independently, and the two sides have
failed to reach an agreement despite 16 months of negotiations.
UMW officials gave conflicting indications of whether they are
responsible for the wildcat strike. Some said they are asking union
members to return to work, but Tommy Buchanan, international
executive board member in UMW District 20 in Birmingham, Ala., said
today the final decision on whether 5,000 Alabama miners will join
the strike will be with union President Richard Trumka.
``It might be two days. It might be a week. It will start
whenever it comes down from the union president,'' Buchanan said.
Union spokesman Joe Corcoran was not in his office and has not
returned phone calls this week.
The head of the coal industry bargaining unit said he had no
plans to confer with the Pittston on the wildcat strikes.
``I would no more try to tell someone else how to run their
company than I would expect someone else to try to tell me how to
run my company,'' said Robert H. Quenon, president of Peabody
Holding Co., the nation's largest coal producer, and chairman of the
Bituminous Coal Operators Association.
Quenon flew to Charleston from St. Louis on Thursday to meet with
reporters and express Peabody's and the association's concerns about
the walkout.
An estimated 2,300 United Mine Workers members stayed away from
their jobs today in Pennsylvania. Most worked for Rochester and
Pittsburgh Coal Co. operations in central Pennsylvania, where 1,600
miners failed to report for work at midnight Thursday, said company
spokesman Hank Waneck said.
About 290 miners at Peabody's Camp No. 1 mine in Morganfield,
Ky., didn't report for work today, said company spokesman Tom Clarke.
At least 270 miners were off the job at two mines in Indiana
today, spokesmen said. Mark Arnold, a spokesman for UMW District 11
in Terre Haute, attributed the action to the CBS show.
``When the miners saw that last night, that kind of set them off
to where they decided to walk out,'' he said.
About one-third of West Virginia's 24,000 miners were reported
off the job today. Some 600 miners in Wise County, Va., who walked
out earlier in the week returned to work this morning.
The coal companies contend the walkouts at companies other than
Pittston violate a no-strike clause in the 1988 national contract
the union signed with the association. Pittston did not take part in
that agreement.
Union officials have not returned phone calls this week, but in
the past they have said they have not authorized the walkout.
``I think the union leadership ought to exercise its leadership
role and do what they can to lead the miners back to work,'' Quenon
said. ``That's why we have a union. That's why we have an agreement
with the union _ to set out the terms and conditions under which we
will have labor to run our coal mines.
``And we expect that to be honored.''
More than 10,000 coal miners in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virginia
walked off the job to express sympathy for miners in Virginia and West Virginia, who
have waged a bitter two-month strike against Pittston Coal Group. Pittston dropped out
of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association to negotiate with the union independently
and the two sides have failed to reach an agreement despite 16 months of negotiations.
United Mine Workers officials gave conflicting indications of whether or not they are
responsible for the wildcat strikes. The coal companies contend that walkouts at any
mines other than Pittston, violate the contract with the union.
Miners are gaining more support for their protest against Pittston coal group. It was a vain attempt by Pittston to move apart from the Bituminous Coal Operator’s Association thinking that they can have independent dialogues with the union. UMW officials came up with contradicting statements regarding the reasons for the present protest. There have been arguments among them in taking up the responsibility of the strike.
Strikes by tens of thousands of
miners in this Siberian coal region spread to four more of the
Soviet Union's coal fields, Tass reported today.
The official news agency said coal miners in Vorkuta in the far
north, the Don River city of Rostov in southwestern Russia and the
Ukrainian industrial center of Dnepropetrovsk walked out Wednesday.
Miners in the Karaganda region in Soviet Central Asia today
refused to work, Tass said. By evening, 14 mines in the region, home
of the country's third-largest coal fields, were reported at a
standstill.
Tass said their demands were similar to those of striking miners
in the Donetsk and Kuznetsk coal basins, who are seeking greater
local control over their industries and better wages and living
conditions.
Kuznetsk, in western Siberia, and Donetsk, in the Ukraine, are
the country's two leading coal basins and the strikes amount to the
country's worst labor unrest since the 1920s. Novokuznetsk is a
major city in the Kuznetsk region, where the strikes began 10 days
ago.
The government has acknowledged that living and working
conditions for miners in the regions are abysmal and has made
general pledges of improvements.
Tass reported Wednesday that some miners in Siberia had returned
to work after the government made pay concessions.
The government also has promised to send extra meat, butter,
sugar, tea, leather shoes, furniture and cars to relieve shortages
in the region, the Communist Youth League newspaper Komsomolskaya
Pravda said today.
But the newspaper and Tass reported more disturbances in the
Ukraine. Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a communist official in the
Donetsk city of Makeyevka as saying, ``The scale of the strike is
growing. Practically all the coal enterprises of the city have
stopped work.''
Miners in Vorkuta, Rostov and Dnepropetrovsk all walked off the
job on Wednesday, Tass said.
In Vorkuta, strikers sent a letter to the Kremlin asking for an
``urgent resolution of the sharp economic and social problems of the
coal sector, and also specific problems of workers of the far
north,'' Tass said.
In Rostov, miners' economic demands included extra pay for
evening and night shifts, longer vacations and an increase in the
price of coal to world market prices, the news agency reported.
In Dnepropetrovsk, which is 150 miles from Donetsk, workers'
demands mirrored those of Donetsk and Kuznetsk miners.
In Karaganda, strikers said they walked out to protest incomplete
news accounts of miners' demands in the Kuznetsk strikes, according
to Tass.
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Wednesday the strikes could
imperil his reforms and that there were reports of railway workers
being urged to strike.
He said that if labor trouble spreads, ``We may have to take such
extreme measures that it will hurt what we've been doing'' to
overhaul the economy through greater attention to free-market
mechanisms.
He did not elaborate.
Strikes are rare in the Soviet Union and were ended by force
before Gorbachev gained power in March 1985.
Tass today said that the Kuznetsk strike had reached ``a turning
point,'' with nine out of 11 mining centers back at work.
It was not known how many more employees were back on the job
today. On Wednesday, Tass said that 24,000 strikers in Kuznetsk were
back at work and 150,000 remained on strike.
State television said Wednesday that the strike in the Donetsk
basin had spread to 70 of its 120 mines, more than triple the
previous number, and that mine construction workers had joined.
In a report from the Donetsk city of Yenakiyevo, television said
steel and coke-chemical plants were ``on the verge of a stoppage''
for lack of coal.
Earlier reports in the official press had said operations at
steel and power plants were affected by short supplies of coal and
coke.
Gorbachev told the national legislature Wednesday that the
strikes had deprived the nation of more than 1 million tons of coal.
The government has agreed to most miner demands, including those
on pensions and overtime, Gorbachev said. But he said that settling
some longer-term issues would take up to a month.
Tass outlined a concessions package that includes bonus pay to
night shifts and for men using jackhammers.
Strikers also have complained about poor housing and shortages of
consumer goods and food, and the government has made general pledges
of improvements in those areas.
Strikes by tens of thousands of coal miners have spread to four more of the Soviet
Union's coal fields. Coal miners in the far north, the southwest and in the Ukraine
walked out. In Soviet Central Asia, home of the country's third largest coal fields, 14
mines were at a standstill. Miners seek greater local control over their industries and
better living and working conditions. The government acknowledged that living and
working conditions for miners is abysmal and has pledged improvements. Gorbachev that
strikes could imperil his reforms to overhaul the economy through greater attention of
free-market mechanisms.
The strike is getting unfurled into different areas of Soviet unions. Protestors from all mines are having similar demands. 14 mines were halted in Soviet Central Asia. Government has promised upgradations considering the difficulties faced by the miners. These demonstrative protests could endanger Gorbachev’s reform plans.
President Bush congratulated the San Francisco
49ers on Friday and said they ``rewrote the record books'' with
their Super Bowl victory. In turn he was presented with two
autographed balls and a jogging outfit.
``Let me congratulate you also on your victory,'' quarterback Joe
Montana told Bush at a East Room reception. Montana said being
invited to the White House ``means a lot to all of us'' and joked:
``Not very often do I get to see these guys in ties.''
Bush, surrounded by 49ers, told the team, ``With this, your third
Super Bowl title in eight years, you rewrote the record books and
raised the game of football to a new level of excellence.''
And, to Montana, who drove the team to the winning touchdown on a
92-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, Bush said: ``Joe, you once
again showed your grace under pressure. I guess we all wonder why it
took so long.''
Bush was presented autographed balls by both Montana and wide
receiver Jerry Rice, who won the game's Most Valuable Player award.
``That's the real thing from the Super Bowl,'' Rice said of the
ball he gave the president.
Bush joked that he heard, ``there is a new TV series coming out
based on your Super Bowl performance _ Miami Rice. Available in
every city in the country except one. Cininnnati, that is.''
The 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-16, two weeks ago in
Miami.
Team owner Danny DeBartolo told Bush that he would be presented
with a Super Bowl ring, size 11, ``because we want to make you an
honorary member of our team.''
And outgoing coach Bill Walsh gave Bush a 49ers jogging outfit,
but cautioned, ``I'm not sure we suggest running in the streets of
Washington, D.C., in this suit....Remember the Redskin fans are all
around us.''
Super Bowl winners are traditionally invited to the White House.
In a White House reception on Friday, President Bush congratulated the San Francisco
49ers on their third Super Bowl title in eight years, saying they "rewrote the record
books." Bush, in turn, was presented with autographed balls by quarterback Joe Montana
and wide receiver Jerry Rice, the game's Most Valuable Player. Outgoing coach Bill
Walsh gave Bush a 49ers jogging outfit.
The 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-16, two weeks ago in Miami. The winning
touchdown late in the fourth quarter was the culmination of a 92-yard drive by Montana.
Super Bowl winners are traditionally invited to the White House.
A party was thrown out for San Francisco 49ers for winning the third Super Bowl title in eight years by Bush in White House. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice gifted autographed balls in return to Bush. 49ers jogging outfit was given to Bush by coach Bill Walsh. Cincinnati Bengals were defeated by 49ers. Welcoming Super Bowl winners to White House is a custom.
(box) SEATING CAPACITY: 74,315.; (box) KICKOFF: 3:18 p.m. Pacific
Standard Time.; (box) PLAYERS SHARE: The winners will get $36,000 per man.
The losers will get $18,000 per man.; (box) SUDDEN DEATH: If the game is
tied at regulation time 60 minutes, it will continue in sudden death overtime.
The team scoring first (by safety, field goal, or touchdown) will win. At the
end of regulation playing time, the referee will immediately toss a coin at
midfield, in accordance with rules pertaining to the usual pregame toss. The
captain of AFC team (the visiting team) will call the toss. Following a
three-minute intermission after the end of the regular game, play will
continue by 15-minute periods with a two-minute intermission between each such
overtime period with no halftime intermission. The teams will change goals
between each period, there will be a two-minute warning at the end of each
period.; (box) TROPHY: The winning team receives permanent possession of
the Vince Lombardi Trophy, a sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany and
Company and presented annually to the winner of the Super Bowl. The trophy was
named after the late coach Vince Lombardi of the two-time Super Bowl champion
Green Bay Packers prior to Super Bowl V. The trophy is a regulation silver
football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three
concave sides. The trophy stands 20 3/4 inches tall, weighs 6.7 pounds and is
valued in excess of $10,000. The words "Vince Lombardi" and "Super Bowl XXIV"
are engraved on the base along with the NFL emblem.; (box) ATTENDANCE: To
date, 1,953,690 have attended Super Bowl games. The largest crowd was 103,985
at the 14th Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Super Bowl XXV will kickoff in Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida. Winners receive $36,000 per
man. The losers receive $18,000 per man. If there is overtime because of a tie, the team scoring
first will win. The overtime play will be in 15-minute periods.
The winning team will receive permanent possession of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named
after the late coach Vince Lombardi of the two-time Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.
The trophy, valued at $10,000, is a regulation silver football mounted in a kicking position on a
pyramid-like stand of three concave sides and is 20.75 inches high.
Super Bowl XXV will commence in Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida. Title holders will win $36,000 per player. If a tie occurs due to overtime, the team gained initially will achieve the victory. The Vince Lombaedi Trophy can be owned by the winners for a long time. The trophy, valued at $10,000, is a regulation silver football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three concave sides and is 20.75 inches high.
The San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver
Broncos 55-10 Sunday in the most lopsided Super Bowl victory ever.
The 49ers' win in the 24th Super Bowl made them the first repeat
NFL champion in a decade and tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as a
pinnacle of Super Bowl perfection with four wins in four tries.
San Francisco won the National Football League championship game
in 1989, 1985 and 1982. The Broncos, on the other hand, lost the
last four Super Bowl games they have played.
San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana made five touchdown
passes, three to Jerry Rice, breaking a Super Bowl record for
touchdown passes on a day on which he also set a record with 13
straight pass completions.
He also set five Super Bowl career records, including his third
Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award and San Francisco's point
total was the most ever. Montana left the game with nearly 11
minutes to play.
In four Super Bowls, he has thrown 11 touchdowns and no
interceptions.
For Denver quarterback John Elway, it was a day of futility,
ending with his third Super Bowl defeat. He missed eight of his
first 10 passes and was intercepted twice and fumbled once.
By halftime the score was 27-3. With their third loss in four
years, the Broncos have now been outscored 136-40.
San Francisco was boringly perfect, doing more than even the
experts who made them favorites by nearly two touchdowns after a
14-2 season and a waltz through the playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver Broncos 55-10 Sunday in the most lopsided
Super Bowl victory ever. The 24th Super Bowl also generated other statistics. The 49ers,
having also won in 1989, 1985 and 1982, tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as a pinnacle of
Super Bowl perfection with four wins in four tries. San Francisco quarterback Joe
Montana, broke the record for touchdown passes, 5. He also set a record for straight pass
completions, 13. Montana set five Super Bowl career records, including his third Super
Bowl MVP award, and San Francisco's point total was the most ever.
The San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl. The 49ers,
having also won in 1989, 1985 and 1982, tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as a pinnacle of
Super Bowl perfection with four wins in four tries. Joe broke the record for touchdown passes, 5. He also fixed a history for straight pass completions, 13. Montana set five Super Bowl career records, consisting his third Super Bowl MVP award, and San Francisco's point total was the highest ever.
Things are different; He says he only wished the black community could
have shared in some of the considerable profits generated by one of America's
greatest sports events.; "The Super Bowl is about money," Carley said last
week. "And last time we were basically onlookers."; Things are a lot
different this time around. This year, Carley is the co-chairman of one of the
featured events of Super Bowl week, the Bambaleo Parade, a Saturday
extravaganza with marching bands, a street festival and floats.; The grand
marshal of the parade will be Lee Roy Selmon, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer.;
Other events will include a salute to black sports legends and a Doug
Williams golf tournament.; 'Much more involvement'; This year, the Super
Bowl Task Force, a group headed by two of the city's most influential white
businessmen, named two black men to head a community-relations committee.;
But perhaps most important, Carley said, several minority-owned businesses
have won lucrative contracts from the NFL for the game.; "There's much more
involvement this time, black and white," said Carley, who is the
affirmative-action officer for Hillsboro Community College.; "There's been
a heightened awareness. In 1984, there was not even a thought given to a black
man."; About 100,000 visitors, many of them corporate and political movers
and shakers, were expected to arrive in Tampa this week for the festivities
leading up to the game Sunday.; The game itself, which is televised to 750
million people around the world, is only part of an event whose impact on a
city has been compared to that of a national political convention.; Hotels,
restaurants and other businesses are anticipating an estimated $125 million in
revenues, with a total economic impact of $200 million.; 'It's a bay
window'; "The Super Bowl introduces you to the world in a big way," said
Barbara Casey, the coordinator of the Super Bowl Task Force. "You don't have
to say Tampa, Fla., anymore."; The Super Bowl also can highlight a
community's problems, and bring the frustrations of many of its members to the
surface.; "It's more than a window into a town," said Jim Steeg, director
of special events for the NFL. "It's a bay window."; Last month, NFL
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he would stand by his recommendation to move
the 1993 Super Bowl out of Tempe, Ariz., because the state does not have a
holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King.; A week before the Super Bowl in
Miami two years ago, the fatal shooting of a black man on a motorcycle by an
Hispanic police officer in the predominantly black Overtown neighborhood set
off three days of looting and torchings of buildings and cars.; While the
disturbances were not caused by the Super Bowl, the NFL was criticized at the
time for not making enough of an effort to include minority-group members in
the festivities.; "I think Miami was the awakening for a lot of people,"
Carley said.; In Tampa, Super Bowl XXV brought about the cancellation of
what was the biggest annual event in the city for 86 years: the Gasparilla
Parade, an extravaganza that featured 500 of the city's most powerful men
swaggering through the streets dressed as gun-toting pirates.; Tampa
officials made the parade part of their pitch to the NFL for the Super Bowl.
But after Tampa was awarded the 1991 Super Bowl, a racial dispute erupted over
the parade, which always has been sponsored and organized by an all-white,
all-male private club, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.; The club's top
officials refused the demands of a coalition of black residents, including
Carley, that the club be integrated immediately. Instead, they canceled the
parade.; The Super Bowl Task Force had to scramble to put together a new
parade, and Carley became the co-chairman of that effort.; SUPER BOWL
XXVI; Super Bowl XXVI will be played Jan. 26, 1992, in the Metrodome. It will
be Minneapolis' first time as the host city. The last time the Super Bowl was
held in a cold-climate city was in 1982, when the 49ers beat the Cincinnati
Bengals 26-21 in Pontiac, Mich.
About 100,000 people will visit Tampa this week for the festivities leading up to Super
Bowl XXV, and this year, unlike in 1984, the black community is sharing in the profits
generated by the game. The economic impact of the Super Bowl on a city can be $200
million. Several minority-owned businesses have won lucrative contracts from the NFL
for the game.
It also can highlight a community's problems. This year the Gasparilla Parade, sponsored
by an all-white, all-male private club that refused to integrate, was cancelled. Henry
Carly, president of the local NAACP chapter, is co-chairman of the replacement
extravaganza.
Around 100,000 people are going to be in Tampa this week for watching Super Bowl XXV. A different situation that has happened this time is that Black community is receiving a division of the savings gained from the game. Various minority-owned trades have won advantageous agreements for the game. This also exposes the issues faced by a society. This year the Gasparilla Parade, sponsored by an all-white, all-male private club that refused to integrate, was crossed out. Henry Carly, president of the local NAACP chapter, is co-chairman of the replacement extravaganza.
Sports Illustrated is taking 300 advertisers to Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena, Calif., this weekend for an all-out bash.
Along with getting seats for Sunday's game, the guests will brunch at the chic Spago restaurant, take a private tour of Universal Studios and attend a wing-ding at the Century Plaza Hotel.
The magazine is just one of hundreds of businesses whose officials and customers will be among the 104,000 fans attending the Super Bowl.
And the companies show few signs of cutting back on their activities despite the new tax law's tighter restrictions on what can be claimed as a business-entertainment expense.
Still, the new rules do change things for a variety of Super Bowl entertaining -- from an executive sitting in a $1,500 seat on the 50-yard line to a businessman holding a Super Bowl party in his living room and hoping to write off the costs.
One big change under the new law limits business-entertainment deductions for tickets to sporting events like the Super Bowl: Only 80% of the face value of such tickets can be deducted.
If a company purchases a a 50-yard-line seat for $1,500 -- the going rate -- it can deduct only 80% of the ticket's $75 face value, or $60.
Even to get the 80% deduction, there still must be a "substantial and bona fide business discussion" before, during or after the game, says Julian Block, a tax specialist at Prentice-Hall Information Services Inc.
To take a client to a game as merely a good-will gesture is no longer enough, Mr. Block says.
And if a company wants to simply give clients tickets to the game, the business gift carries a total deduction of only $25 for each recipient.
The tougher IRS rule, however, hasn't slowed ticket demand; even end-zone seats are fetching $500 each.
"Even if it weren't tax deductible, it'd be worth it," says Tom Foley, chairman of Bibb Co., a Macon, Ga., maker of home furnishings and textile products that use the National Football League team logos.
Bibb is flying about 20 people -- mostly customers -- to the game.
"We get more earnings from the trip than the expense," says Mr. Foley.
Some companies say they are making adjustments or at least educating their executives about the new rules.
A spokesman for Adolph Coors and Co, the Golden, Colo., brewery, said its tax advisers instructed executives that "this can't be just a fun trip -- we have to discuss business."
Air fare and lodging are still 100% deductible, as long as there is a planned business meeting in addition to the game.
Meals are now 80% deductible as long as business is discussed.
Under the old law, meals were fully deductible and all a company had to do was show a business relationship with the guest.
Companies can get a 100% deduction for a pre-Super Bowl banquet, since the new tax law has a "banquet meeting exception."
Such meetings must have at least 40 persons, half of whom are away from home, and there must be a speaker.
Executives who bring clients over to the house to watch the Super Bowl on television also face new restrictions on deductions for food and liquor, says William J. Lipton, tax partner of the accounting firm Ernst and Whinney.
If a host wants to deduct 80% of the bill, he or she must talk business with all of the guests, Mr. Lipton says.
One safety measure: Make a business-oriented speech, Mr. Block suggests.
He also advises party hosts to keep a guest list and note their business connection.
That will be a big job for Barron Hilton, chairman of Hilton Hotels Corp., who along with Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, is holding a pre-Super Bowl brunch Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for 1,800 guests including business leaders, entertainment personalities and customers.
Allen Hermansen, a Hilton senior vice president, says the bash is tax deductible because "our sales people will be there and business will be discussed."
He admits, however, "We're not going to twist any arms.
We're there to say thank-you to those who've given us business."
An IRS spokesman says more agents will be assigned to corporate audits of business-entertainment expenses this year.
But IRS enforcement of the rules could be as difficult as blocking the New York Giants' Lawrence Taylor.
"As a practical matter, as long as people say they talked business at a Super Bowl party, how can the IRS dispute it?" says Vickie King, a Price Waterhouse tax official.
"The only people who will get into trouble are those who don't keep receipts."
New, tougher tax laws on what can be claimed as business entertainment expense haven't
slowed demand for tickets to Sunday's Super Bowl XXI. Now, only 80% of the face
value to tickets to sporting events can be deducted, and then only if a substantial business
discussion occurs. The face value of a 50-yard-line seat at the Super Bowl is $75, not
$1500, the going rate. Meals are 80% deductible if business is discussed. Still, hundreds
of companies will send their officials and customers to Pasadena for a weekend of
partying. The IRS will have difficulty disputing claims that business was discussed.
Even though tougher tax laws were implemented, people have not stepped back from buying tickets for Super Bowl XXI. only 80% of the face value to permit cards to sporting events can be subtracted, and then only if a substantial business conference happens. The face value of a 50-yard-line seat at the Super Bowl costs $75, not $1500, the going charge. Several organisations will grant their officials and clients to Pasadena for a weekend plan.The IRS will have complication disputing claims that business was discussed.
Though 63% of TV viewers or approximately 109 million people watched Super Bowl
XXIV on CBS, the network finished the week in the cellar in the ratings race. The
lopsided game was the lowest rated Super Bowl since 1969. Each rating point in 1990,
however, represents many more households than it did two decades ago.
This marks only the third time that the Super Bowl network did not win the week and
only the second time that it was third for the week. On the upside, the game was a good
lead-in to the new CBS series, "Grand Slam."
Super Bowl XXIV was the most watched TV event of the week, viewed by 63% of the viewers.
CBS estimates 109 million viewers, down only 2 million from last year, despite the fact that this
year's match was a blowout and resulted in the lowest rating since Super Bowl III in 1969.
Each rating point in 1990, however, represents many more households than it did two decades
ago. Technically, Super Bowl IV in 1970 out rated Super Bowl XXIV 39.4 to 39.0. But
Sunday's game had almost twice the estimated 59.19 million who watched Kansas City beat
Minnesota 20 years ago.
In a dramatic finish, the San Francisco 49ers
football team won the Super Bowl on Sunday with a 20-16 victory over
the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Montana's 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor with 34
seconds left provided the winning margin.
The victory was achieved through the brilliance of Montana and
Jerry Rice, the wide receiver who caught 12 passes for 222 yards,
both Super Bowl records. Rice was named the game's most valuable
player.
The winning score came at the end of a 92-yard drive, engineered
by Montana, whose touchdown pass gave him a Super Bowl record with
357 yards passing.
It was the fifth straight win for a National Football Conference
team, but by far the most dramatic _ the previous four had been by
an average score of 41-14.
It also gave 49ers Coach Bill Walsh his third Super Bowl win.
The game was a defensive struggle in the first half, which ended
in a 3-3 tie. Two key players were injured in the first 14 plays,
Cincinnati's All-Pro nose tackle Tim Krumrie and San Francisco's
tackle Steve Wallace.
The first touchdown didn't come until 44 minutes into the
60-minute game, when Cincinnati's Stanford Jennings took a kickoff
93 yards for a score.
The game, before a crowd of 75,179 at Joe Robbie Stadium, went
undisrupted by racial tensions in Miami.
Joe Montana's 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left in the game
gave the San Francisco 49ers a 20-16 Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on
Sunday. The touchdown gave Montana a Super Bowl record with 357 yards passing.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice caught 12 passes for 222 yards, both Super Bowl records, and
was named the game's most valuable player. It was the third Super Bowl win for 49ers
Coach Bill Walsh.
It was the fifth straight win for the NFC team and the most dramatic. The previous four
had an average score of 41-14.
San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals and won the triumph of Super Bowl on Sunday with a 20-16 victory. Joe Montana could perform a sparkling game. Jerry Rice, who caught 12 passes for 222 yards won the title of the game’s most valuable player. It was the third time Coach Bill Walsh winning the Super Bowl. It was the fifth straight win for the NFC team. The previous four had an average score of 41-14.
The beer gridiron is going to be a busy and
expensive place on television this January.
The nation's two largest brewers, Anheuser Busch Cos. Inc. and
Miller Brewing Co., are gearing up to sell their beer with by
staging mock football games in television commercials in
conjunction with Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans.
Executives from both companies say they're attempting to take
advantage of the weeks of hype surrounding the game. Both
beermakers claim their packages are the largest Super Bowl
promotions ever, with each planning to spend upwards of $7 million.
Anheuser Busch is staging a ``Bud Bowl II'' ad campaign that
culminates during the Jan. 28 Super Bowl, with a game featuring
animated teams of Budweiser and Bud Light beer bottles rattling
around on a pint-sized football field. The first such game was
staged during the last Super Bowl.
``We're starting a month earlier, we've added an extra promo
spot and we're going to have a lot more display materials in the
stores,'' said Tom Sharbaugh, group brand director for Budweiser.
Miller, based in Milwaukee, won't say exactly how much it is
spending on its 12-week, pre-Super Bowl campaign centered on a
football game between a ``Tastes Great'' team and a ``Less
Filling'' squad.
Those teams will be made up of current and former National
Football League players such as Bert Jones, L.C. Greenwood and Joe
Klecko.
``We're spending more than $7 million, I can tell you that,''
said Richard Burton, advertising manager for Lite beer. ``We're
talking about real-life talent.''
Miller's campaign culminates Jan. 14, two weeks before the Super
Bowl, primarily because Anheuser Busch bought all the Super Bowl
television spots allocated for beer advertising.
Miller's television commercials already have started airing.
Anheuser Busch will begin its ads this week with a spot featuring
sports announcer Brent Musberger.
Both companies also have fan participation promotions.
Anheuser Busch expects to receive 400,000 to 500,000 scorecards
from fans who are being asked to write down the score of the Bud
Bowl after each quarter. Fans who send in their scorecards will
receive a commemorative pin.
Miller has a consumer sweepstakes offering expense-paid trips to
the Super Bowl.
Anheuser Busch Cos.Inc, and Miller Brewing Co. will attempt to take advantage of the
hype preceding Super Bowl XXIV by running television commercials featuring mock
football games. Anheuser Bush's campaign features a "Bud Bowl II" that culminates
during the Jan.28 game in New Orleans. The ad revolves around animated teams of
Budwieser and Bud Light beer bottles playing on a pint-sized football field.
Miller has already launched its 12-week campaign centered on a football game between
"Tastes Great" and "Less Filling" squads, both of which are composed of former NFL
players. Miller admits its promotion costs over $7 million.
Anheuser Busch Cos. Inc. and Miller Brewing Co. are planning to conveniently make use of the Super Bowl XXIV on a commercial basis. By Jan 28th, Anheuser Bush will be ending up their campaign “Bud Bowl II”. In the ad, animated teams of Budwieser and Bud Light beer bottles are playing on a pint-sized football field. Miller’s 12- week campaign is focusing on a game between “Tastes Great” and “Less Filling” squads. Miller is spending more than $7 million for their promotional ads.
The San Francisco 49ers' 55-10 rout of the
Denver Broncos was the lowest-rated Super Bowl in 21 years and the
third-lowest ever.
The game on CBS averaged a 39.0 rating and a 63 share, the
lowest Super Bowl rating since 1969, when the New York Jets' 16-7
victory over Baltimore got a 36.0 on NBC for the worst rating ever,
A.C. Nielsen Co. said today.
The rating is a percentage of the nation's televisions; each
point represents 921,000 homes. The share is the percentage of the
televisions on at the time.
Despite the low rating, Sunday's game was seen by about 108.5
million people, making it the ninth most-watched TV show ever in
the United States behind eight Super Bowls and the final episode of
``MASH.'' The higher viewership was made possible by the annual
increase in the number of homes with television.
``Given the expected blowout, the numbers are completely
understandable and we're happy to have a 39,'' said Susan Kerr,
director of programming for CBS Sports. ``It's still a remarkable
rating for prime time.''
The 49ers won by the biggest margin in Super Bowl history.
Only the 1969 and 1968 Super Bowls had lower ratings; Green
Bay's 33-14 victory over Oakland in 1968 got a 36.8. The first
Super Bowl was in 1967.
The highest-rated Super Bowl was in 1982, when the 49ers' 26-21
victory over Cincinnati got a 49.1 on CBS.
Last year's San Francisco-Cincinnati Super Bowl, won by the
49ers 20-16, got a 43.5 rating and was seen in 39.3 million homes,
according to Nielsen estimates. This year's game was seen in about
35.9 million homes.
Viewership of the 5 p.m. game this year peaked at a 41.6 rating
and a 69 share from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., dropping off as it became
clear that Denver would not rally.
The pregame show got a 39.0 rating and a 63 share and the
postgame show got a 22.5 rating and a 35 share.
The musical ``Annie,'' which was on ABC opposite the game, got a
9.4 rating. ``Life Goes On'' on NBC got a 6.0 rating and ``Love
With a Twist'' on NBC a 7.6.
The San Francisco 49ers' 55-10 rout of the Denver Broncos was the lowest rated Super
Bowl since 1969 and the third-lowest ever. The CBS game averaged a 39.0 rating and a
63 share. Each point in the rating represents 921,000 homes. The share is the percentage
of the televisions on at the time. Despite the low rating, about 108.5 million people saw
Sunday's game, making it the ninth most-watched TV show ever in the U.S. behind eight
Super Bowls and the final episode of "Mash." The annual increase in the number of
homes with television accounted for the higher viewership.
The San Francisco 49ers' 55-10 rout of the Denver Broncos was the nether most rated Super
Bowl since 1969 and the third-lowest ever. The CBS game averaged a 39.0 rating and a
63 share. Each point in the rating means 921,000 homes. The share is the percentage
of the televisions on at the time. In defiance of the low rating, almost 108.5 million watched Sunday’s game. It turned out to be the ninth most watched TV show ever in the U.S. The annual increase in the number of homes with television accounted for the rise in viewership
The Soviet Union said today that a united
Germany can join NATO after a five-year transition period during
which all Soviet and U.S. troops would leave the country. The
United States rejected the proposal, a U.S. official said.
The proposal was outlined by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze during international talks in East Berlin on the
strategic future of a united Germany.
The remarks, a copy of which were obtained by The Associated
Press, indicates that a united Germany would be free to join the
Western NATO alliance after a five-year transitional period.
But in exchange, Western and Soviet troops would pull out of the
country and Germany's own military strength would be sharply
reduced, according to the proposal.
Shevardnadze made the proposal as he met with U.S. Secretary of
State James A. Baker III and their counterparts from Britain,
France and the two German states.
``I am underwhelmed,'' Baker said when asked about the Soviet
proposal while posing for pictures with the other foreign ministers.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S.
officials objected to the five-year time limit before Germany could
join NATO. The official said the other Western ministers expressed
the same reservations.
The United States wants a united Germany to be a member of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union has been
staunchly opposed.
West Germany now is a mainstay of NATO and East Germany is a
member of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
Shevardnadze said the Soviet proposal seeks to limit the
strength of the German armed forces and ``to revamp their structure
to make sure that they are rendered incapable for offensive
operations.''
It said those reductions could be undertaken over a three-year
period. Germany also would be prevented from producing or deploying
chemmical or nuclear weapons.
It also said that within six months of unification, all Western
troops should leave West Berlin, which remains technically under
military occupation by the United States, France and Britian.
The four nations would reduce their military forces in the
country during a three-year period following unification first by
50 percent, then ``bring them down to a level of token contingents,
or completely withdraw them from Germany.''
There are about 380,000 Soviet troops in East Germany, while a
quarter-million U.S. troops are stationed in West Germany along
with tens of thousands of British and French soldiers.
Previously, the Soviets had said their troops would stay in what
is now East Germany for several years, but had left unclear the
exact plans for pulling them out.
Shevardnadze, speaking earlier at a ceremony for the removal of
the Western Allies' Checkpoint Charlie, said he wanted the Big Four
Powers' troops out of ``greater Berlin'' within six months after
unification.
The proposal, as translated into English by the Soviets and
distributed to the news media, apparently would also include the
Kremlin's soldiers stationed just outside the city proper.
The United States, France and Great Britain have an estimated
12,000 troops in West Berlin. An official reached by telephone in
the office of the military attache at the Soviet embassy in East
Berlin said there were no Soviet troops stationed in the city
proper.
Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze proposed today that a united Germany be
allowed to join NATO after a five-year period during which all Soviet and U.S. troops
would leave the country. U.S. Secretary of State Baker responded, "I am
underwhelmed." The United States objects to the 5-year waiting period while the Soviet
Union has opposed a united Germany's membership in NATO. Shevardnadze also
remarked at a ceremony for the removal of Checkpoint Charlie that all western troops
should be removed from "greater Berlin" within six months after unification, a provision
which apparently would also apply to Soviet troops just outside the city proper.
Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze came up with the proposal to permit United Germany to clamp with NATO after a five-year period during during which all Soviet and U.S. troops
would leave the country. U.S. Secretary of State Baker responded that he was underwhelmed. The Soviet Union is against the entry of United Germany's membership in NATO. The United States is not accepting the 5 year period. . Shevardnadze also remarked that all western troops should be removed from "greater Berlin" within six months after unification.