Breaking Labor's Rules

Instead of an article lambasting management for its latest misdeeds, there was an article chiding labor for its lack of involvement in higher education. Instead of an editorial calling for the repeal of 14(b) and state right-to-work laws, there was a plea for less labor "ineptitude" in politics. Instead of photos of labor leaders shaking hands with one another in a ritual display of solidarity, there were some stunning color illustrations, ranging from still lifes to abstracts. From cover to cover, the first two issues of Lithopinion, the new quarterly magazine put out by Local One of the Amalgamated Lithographers of America, flouted most of the traditions of union publications in the U.S.

Lithopinion's sprightly new look should not have been a surprise; the New York local's dynamic president, Edward D. Swayduck, 52, has been breaking labor's rules for years. One of the most successful and least conformist of union leaders, Swayduck is a tireless advocate of a new philosophy for labor. He is all for automation, all against featherbedding. His union pours money into research on improvements in the lithographic processes, then prods laggard management into adopting them. As a result of increased productivity in its industry, the 9,000-man union local is not only the fastest-growing in the printing trades but also the best paid: journeyman lithographers earn from $12,000 to $18,000 a year.

No Puffery. The only labor leader in the U.S. to denounce Mike Quill's New York subway strike as "sabotage" against the public, Swayduck wants to bring labor and public together with Lithopinion, a magazine that he planned himself and now supervises with a small editorial staff. "We hope to help break up stereotyped ideas of what a union is," he wrote in the first issue, which appeared last November. "We believe that union men, and the public interested in labor affairs, are tired of publications in which union officials insult their readers' intelligence with endless pictures of themselves, and other personal puffery."

No reader of Lithopinion need feel insulted. Articles deal with overspecialization in today's science, the joys and hazards of retirement, the bad side of the "good old days" in the early-20th century U.S. Why, one contributor asks, are workingmen rarely portrayed in any television dramas? "The deep thinkers who arrange things on the home screen," he wrote, "have somehow made the whole paycheck populace disappear. Automation at its deadliest couldn't possibly be more thorough."

Gamut of Art. Above all, Lithopinion is easy on the eye. Each issue contains several pages of graphic art, including line drawings, halftones, four-color photographs and embossed reproductions. The two issues to date have even varied in size--not to mention makeup and type face. "We want to show what lithography can do," says Swayduck. "We want to run the whole gamut of our art." Because Swayduck does not want anything to spoil the appearance of his magazine, he carries no advertising. Donations of paper stock and binding from manufacturers have enabled him to keep the cost of each issue at $16,000 for a 20,000 press run.

Lithopinion is sent free of charge to assorted editors, ad agencies and colleges, as well as to all A.L.A. members. So far, demand for the magazine has been far greater than Swayduck can fill.

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