Settlement in New York

For a few tense days last week, it seemed that New York was fated to suffer a repetition of the 1962-63 strike that shut down the city's papers for 114 days and hastened the New York Mirror to its death. Contract negotiations that had run on since October began to run down. Even though the Newspaper Guild and four other unions had tentatively agreed to accept management's top offer of a $10.50 raise spread over two years, Bert Powers, flinty head of Local 6 of the International Typographical Union, wanted more. And the adamant boss of the "Big Six" was well remembered as the architect of the last strike.

Bargain & Collect. Powers had a reputation to maintain as the newspaper-union boss who could do the most for his men. He called "chapel" meetings of his printers in the composing rooms of the Daily News and the Journal-American at hours neatly chosen to interfere with two editions of both papers. Powers was apparently hoping that the publishers would retaliate by locking the printers out -- a move that would save him from the onus of calling a strike. But there was no lockout; the next move was up to Big Six. Then the publishers conceded. They offered Powers a $12-a-week increase over a two-year period, plus all of the salary savings from the use of tape for the setting of stock quotations.

For John J. Gaherin, the seasoned professional who had been hired to handle the publishers' negotiations (TIME, Feb. 26), it was a disappointing decision. It was Gaherin who had been empowered to tell the Guild and the others that the papers simply could not afford more than $10.50. It also was Gaherin who had been spokesman for the publishers' promise that the printers would not get a penny more. And now Gaherin had to pass the word that the Publishers Association had backed down, that it had broken its promise and that Powers had won. "It was collective bargaining," said Gaherin wryly. "We bargained and they collected."

As soon as the other unions heard of Powers' coup, they cried foul. They had been made to look like weaklings beside the Big Six, and now they too wanted every bit as much as the printers. By week's end, they got it.

Under the Rug. Although the use of tape, covered by the new contract, will save the papers almost as much in overtime pay and fringe benefits as they will have to turn over to the typesetters the issue of automation is far from solved. Computerized operations wil soon be a bigger part of publishing, and Big Six is determined to have its say in how the savings are passed along. By his victory last week, intransigent Bert Powers has solidified his position as the Big Six spokesman.

"The automation question is a challenge that both unions and management must meet," said Labor Lawyer Ted Kheel, who had been sent by Mayor Robert Wagner to help arrange the latest truce. "The issue has not been swept under the rug with this settlement. And if there isn't success with this question soon, both sides will be losers."

Just how much the publishers had lost this time, it was still too early to tell. But when Gaherin was reminded that all through the negotiations he had insisted that anything more than a $10.50 increase would put the weaker papers out of business, he had only one rejoinder: "I'm sure you've bought things you couldn't afford and found some way to pay for them."

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