The Nation - News from July 31, 1987

Union members scuffled with reporters and then banned the media entirely from the Communications Workers of America convention floor in a dispute springing from NBC’s labor troubles. Three Democratic presidential hopefuls--Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson--addressed the Miami Beach convention despite the controversy. The media ban by the union, which represents nearly 700,000 workers in the telecommunications and publishing industries and in the public sector, stemmed from a federal court order demanding that the union permit NBC into the convention hall if it allowed any reporters.