Presses roll as talks continue

Paper strike on hold for now and JORDANA HORN Negotiations between leaders of 10 unions and the publisher of The Philadelphia Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer dragged into the early morning today, with no call for a settlement or strike in sight. After days of grueling negotiations, the unions still threatened to strike if a settlement was not reached with the one remaining union in dispute – the Newspaper Guild, whose members include journalists from both papers. But while talks continued early this morning, Inquirer delivery trucks were already on the road with today's early edition and there was no picketing at the newspaper's suburban printing plant. Waiting reporters and camera crews watched the Phillies, read their newspapers and listened to the same Muzak tracks for over 10 hours as negotiations continued behind closed doors. As the negotiations wore on into the night, the strike deadline was pushed further and further back, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m to 7 p.m. to midnight and beyond. While both the Teamsters' unions of drivers and mailers reached settlements with Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. – which publishes the two newspapers – the Newspaper Guild had not come to an agreement with the company, PNI representatives said. Union representatives said one "sticking point" remained, but they would not discuss specifics. "We're more optimistic than we were at this time last night," said Charles Fancher, vice president oppublic affairs for PNI. But negotiators entering and exiting the smoke-filled negotiation room didn't seem nearly as optimistic about the possibilities for settlement. Teamsters and journalists alike refused to discuss the sessions, which were held around the clock yesterday and over the weekend to settle contract negotiations between the unions and the company. Joseph Lyons, president of the Philadelphia Council of Newspaper Unions, announced the deadline on Wednesday, saying that if both sides did not reach an agreement, a strike would result. The unions had been working on a day-to-day basis since September 1, when the current contract expired. At 2 p.m. yesterday, Lyons announced a breakthrough in the talks, saying PNI had conceded that new commissioned advertising salespersons would be eligible to be members of the Newspaper Guild, which they previously were not. As the deadline on discussion of non-economic issues such as job security extended past its set time of 7 p.m., Lyons said he was more optimistic but could not be sure there would not be a strike. "There's a 50-50 chance of having the paper tomorrow," he told reporters. "Anything could possibly trigger a strike in a situation of this nature." Lyons, speaking for over 3,000 journalists, truck drivers, press operators and other workers, had previously announced that non-economic issues would have to be settled before an agreement could be reached on economic issues. The evening talks continued, and Lyons announced at 9 p.m. that discussions with mailers and drivers had yielded fruit, with agreements between PNI and the two unions being drawn up. The Teamsters' disputes with PNI centers on the plant and a new distribution system that shortened some drivers' routes and let the company hire nonunion mailers at distribution sites.