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Lead-Pipe Bargaining. Until the last moment, there had been a reasonable doubt that the city's other papers would close down in support of the Times. All the papers of the Publishers Association shut down in 1962, but that was because the I.T.U. negotiated its contract with the association as a whole. Alone among the unions, the Guild negotiates individually with each paper. For the moment, at least, it is only fighting with the Times, and last week the Printing Pressmen's union filed suit to enjoin the other publishers from stopping their presses. But a court decision was postponed in the legal wrangle.
The craft unions, however, are sure to be heard from further. Only three of the nine have yet signed contracts with the Publishers Association, and any settlement satisfactory to the Guild might well trigger another round of negotiations for the newspapers, most of which can scarcely afford any more concessions. Last week the mailers flexed their muscles by refusing to send enough men to handle deliveries at two papers. "I am shocked that the orderly processes of collective bargaining are being interfered with by these damaging actions," said Publishers Association President John J. Gaherin. "This is bargaining with a piece of lead pipe rolled up in a newspaper."
By week's end, the bargaining between the Guild and the Times was still going on. None of the participants were predicting a quick settlement, but neither were they suggesting a deadlock. No matter what the outcome of the strike, it will hardly begin to unravel the problems of the New York newspaper industry, a complex of highly individualistic newspapers and unions. The newspapers, most of which are losing money, are often as wary of one another as they are of the unions. And the unions are squabbling for survival in a shrinking job market. It will take some long-range planning for them all to make peace.