Newspapers: How Not to Negotiate in New York

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For weeks the publishers and the Newspaper Guild had predicted that New York's newly merged World Journal Tribune would be struck before it had a chance to go into operation. Absurd as it seemed, that is exactly what happened last week. Negotiation of key issues—number of employees to be retained, severance pay and seniority—came to a standstill. "Neither side has made any definite offer," said World Journal Tribune President Matt Meyer. "We are still too far apart." The publishers characterized union demands as "extortionate"; the unions called the publishers' offer "peanuts."

While extending their sympathies to the struck papers in editorials, the other New York dailies—the Times, Daily News and Post—continued to publish. With no competition in the afternoon, the Post increased its press run from 400,000 to 600,000. Meanwhile, rumors spread that the embryo World Journal Tribune might collapse in the face of adamant union demands. "We don't intend to go out of business," insisted Matt Meyer, "and we're not going to." The papers' employees were not so sure. With 2,000 on the dismissal list, even those who were not scheduled to be fired were looking for new jobs.

As the strike threatened to drag on for at least another week, the annual meeting of the American Newspaper Publishers Association came to town and provided one ironic footnote after another. While local newsmen were worrying about their jobs, publishers from all over the U.S. were complaining that they had something like two job openings for every available newspaperman. Nor does a merger necessarily mean less employment. Three hundred jobs were lost when the Los Angeles Times folded the Los Angeles Mirror in 1962; since then, the Times has hired 400 more people.