Powers Play

The gesture harked back to 19th century wrecking of machines by Luddites. In the composing room of the New York Daily News one morning last week, Bertram A. Powers, president of Typographical Union No. 6, seized a thin magnesium plate and ceremoniously crumpled it. The plate was the first to bear the imprint of type set on Daily News automated equipment--photo-composing machines that translate strips of perforated tape (produced by special typewriters) into film negatives of newspaper pages. For his symbolic and melodramatic act, Powers was arrested and then quickly released on his own recognizance. The stage was set for a final showdown between his printers and the three major New York City dailies over the issue of automation.

Ever since the typographers' contract with the papers expired in March 1973, both sides have been haggling over the introduction of automated typesetting technology, which is now widely used by papers across the country. Powers has insisted on higher wage increases than those won by eight other unions, ironclad job security, and greater union jurisdiction over the new equipment than the publishers are offering. To add bite to these demands, Powers aimed a "coordinated action" at the Daily News in mid-April. Printers were ordered to work at different speeds: "normal, slow and very slow." This tactic played havoc with News deadlines, prevented the publishing of more than 700 ad pages in 19 days, and cost the paper some $2 million in lost revenue. News officials responded with an ultimatum: either the printers tighten up by May 6 or the slack would be handled by automation. When the publishers made good on their threat, Powers acted.

Claiming that his arrest signaled a lockout by the News, he threw pickets around the paper's headquarters. The News replied that its composing room was open to any printers willing to work at normal speed. The International Typographers Union sided with the paper; it refused to decree a lockout and ruled that Powers' local was engaged in an "unauthorized strike." As a result, members of other unions crossed the typographers' picket lines, and the News continued to reach the newsstands.

Isolated from the other unions and unable to shut down the News, Powers is hardly the power that he was when he spearheaded a 114-day strike against New York City dailies in 1962-63. There were seven papers then, and now there are three, a shrinkage that has led union leaders and members to think twice before jeopardizing already scarce jobs. But Powers is betting that the News' automated equipment is not yet up to the task of replacing his men.

He could be right. The first fully automated editions of the News have been averaging only about two-thirds the normal size of the paper. Powers thinks the crunch will come when the News attempts to print huge Sunday editions, ordinarily 300-700 pages. "We're testing the capabilities of the equipment," he says. "Or maybe they are."

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