Word: pressmen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Publisher Graham has learned plenty about the mechanics of the newspaper business since Oct. 1, when some of the Post's 204 pressmen wrecked their presses and walked off the job, followed by members of seven other unions-but not the paper's 843-member Newspaper...
Golden Ears. The Star owes much to the misfortunes of the Washington Post. One night eight weeks ago, pressmen at the Post (circ. 534,000) walked off the job after sabotaging their presses, and eight of the paper's other unions followed. The strike left the Post struggling for weeks to print shrunken editions (48 pages, v. a typical 96) on borrowed presses. Much of the damaged equipment was quickly repaired, and the Post last week put out a 104-page paper. But the Post probably lost $4 million in advertising during the first five weeks of the strike...
Negotiations between the Post and the pressmen broke off three weeks ago, and neither side has budged from pre-strike positions on such crucial issues as overtime and manning levels. In fact, while the Post has been learning to live without its striking pressmen, many pressmen have been easing the pain of lost wages by working one day a week at the Star's busier-than-usual plant across town...
Doubled Salaries. The Post made certain its unions were aware of these precautions, and last year a union representing 700 typographical workers softened their opposition to automation, allowed the company to begin regular use of photographic composition equipment, and agreed to end some featherbedding practices. As for the pressmen, who were not a party to the agreement, the Post wanted to limit the overtime system that enabled some workmen to double their $15,000 base salaries; the pressmen resisted, their contract expired, and they walked...
Chartered helicopters still waited to carry copy to distant printing plants, but those $108-an-hour air taxis were being kept only for emergencies. For the first time since the Washington Post's pressmen went on strike and sabotaged nine presses early this month (TIME, Oct. 13), the paper was able to turn out a full 550,000-copy edition in its own plant last week. The pressmen's walkout has been joined by three other Post unions, but the nation's eighth largest morning paper seemed to be adjusting to the siege remarkably well...