That, plus employee health care contributions would go up by 1 percent a year, with perhaps lesser coverage as well. According to a memo from the Newspaper Guild's Lou Mleczko, the company's health care proposal "contains no details."

The company has refused to budge on any of its demands, and the unions plan to schedule votes on whether to accept the contract on Halloween, which seems curiously appropriate.

How they vote probably won't matter, since the company will likely declare an impasse and impose what changes it wants anyway. Meanwhile, Gannett's quarterly report posted a 37 percent increase in earnings!

True, revenue from the company's 80 newspapers was down 4.8 percent, though they were still profitable. But broadcast and Internet revenue soared. Does this justify giving newspaper folks in Detroit huge pay cuts — and then freezing salaries for two years?

Evidently, Gannett thinks it does. Why? Because they figure they can get away with it. Fifteen years ago, the workers went on an ill-planned, ill-prepared strike. Local unions took on nationwide companies with deep pockets, and were utterly defeated.

Detroit can expect even worse newspapers in the future.

> Email Jack Lessenberry