About 800 Daily News editorial workers struck Friday rather than accept management's order to cross picket lines set up by eight other unions at the financially troubled tabloid. Management at the nation's second-largest city daily flew in the replacement workers to help circumvent a violent strike that began Thursday night when 1,800 employees walked out. Substitutes were imported from Tribune Co. newspapers in Orlando, Fla., and Chicago. Officials of the Daily News, which is owned by the company, said the paper would be on newsstands this weekend. Daily News director of labor relations Edward Gold said the paper would begin replacing workers if they failed to show up at work ``as soon as possible.'' The newspaper has 2,600 unionized employees. ``This is not a typical labor strike situation,'' said political reporter Frank Lombardi. ``They've declared an all-out war on the unions. They don't want negotiation, they want total capitulation.'' Union contracts expired in March. The News, using management and replacement workers, claimed it printed and distributed 611,000 copies of Friday's newspaper. The normal daily circulation is 1.18 million, second only to the Los Angeles Times among metropolitan newspapers. But deliveries of the single edition were spotty at best after firebombs, rocks and other projectiles were hurled at delivery trucks leaving plants in New Jersey, Brooklyn and Long Island. The Daily News was unavailable at rush hour at many midtown Manhattan newsstands, suburban railroad stations and other spots in the metropolitan area. The content was limited as well. The paper had just 48 pages, with just 7{ pages of local, domestic and international news articles. In comparison, last Friday's paper contained 116 pages. Sporadic violence was reported again Friday night. Cars and buses carrying replacement workers again were pelted with rocks as they drove from the Brooklyn plant. Two strikers were arrested on charges of reckless endangerment, police spokesman Mark Warren said. The News has lost about $115 million and seen daily circulation slip by about 700,000 in the past 10 years. The strike was good news for the Daily News' competitors in the battle for tabloid survival in the city. New York Newsday and the New York Post printed additional copies in an effort to pick up News readers. Outside the News' highrise headquarters on 42nd Street, pickets marched and union leaders told workers to head home for the day. Editorial employees from The Newspaper Guild initially honored the picket lines, then joined the strike at what was billed as an informational meeting Friday afternoon. Barry Lipton, the local Guild president, said the decision to strike was made after the News told union officials that replacement workers had already filled some editorial jobs. The News has taken a hard line in its negotiations with the unions, saying it must eliminate labor abuse to save $50 million to $70 million a year. The unions say the paper is trying to break them. Michael Alvino, president of the 700-member drivers' union, called the strike at about 10 p.m. after 60 drivers with the most seniority were fired and replaced with non-union workers. Union workers had walked out early Thursday after management ordered one worker to stand rather than sit on the job. The only one of 10 unions not involved in the strike is the New York Typographical Union, whose 200 members have lifetime guaranteed jobs. Late Thursday, replacement workers driving delivery trucks were attacked in New York and New Jersey. Eleven arrests and two minor injuries were reported. ``This vandalism and outright violence by the strikers is deplorable,'' said John Sloan, the News' vice president for labor relations. ``These are orchestrated and purposeful criminal acts.'' A truck leaving a Kearny, N.J., plant was firebombed at 3:10 a.m. in neighboring Harrison, N.J., although no one was injured. Two men were arrested shortly after the incident for possession of three Molotov cocktails, Kearny Police Lt. Michael Davitt said. Two trucks in Brooklyn were attacked, including one that crashed into two parked cars after it was pelted with debris. Similar incidents in Garden City led to six arrests for disorderly conduct at the plant there. There were two arrests in Brooklyn and one more in New Jersey. Sloan, in a statement issued by the News, also said the families of News executives were threatened overnight by union members.
