Newspapers: The Printers Settle

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For the first time, New York's four-week-old newspaper strike showed signs of a settlement. The printers' boss, Bert Powers, settled with the publishers, and World Journal Tribune President Matt Meyer spoke with unaccustomed optimism. "The typographical union," he said, "did not burden us with restrictive practices and extra manpower that would cripple us before we started. The settlement is expensive in terms of money but not in terms of numbers of men. So far as our composing room is concerned, we can operate reasonably competitively with other papers in New York."

Powers agreed to the elimination of 400 printers' jobs, the number the publishers had insisted must go. In turn, the publishers agreed to give dismissed printers eight weeks' severance pay instead of the three weeks' called for in their present contract. Altogether, the package won by the printers totals $1,105,000, of which $512,000 is slated for severance pay, $194,000 for union pension and welfare funds, $25,000 for sick leave. The publishers are paying the printers $333,000 for the right to transfer type from one paper to another without having it reset and $41,000 for the use of outside tape to set stock tables.

Both publishers and unions agreed that a favorable climate for further settlement had been created at last. By the end of the week, four other craft unions had settled, and the rest of the craft unions are likely to come around soon. But a speedy end to the strike was by no means assured. It is the Newspaper Guild, after all, that took to the picket lines, and the Guild's demands cannot be met with money alone. The question of seniority in hiring for the new papers has yet to be resolved. Guild Chief Tom Murphy has said that a new contract could be negotiated in 48 hours of hard bargaining. But no one was sure when that 48-hour period would begin.