By Susan Zachem

With the economy expected to hold steady for the next two years, now is the time to coordinate bargaining and organize for better contracts, GCIU Pres. James J. Norton said.

Addressing the Coordination of Negotiations Conference, Norton said coordination is the key to success in bargaining with employers that try to drive down standards by playing one local union against another or try to isolate a local to apply pressure. "The record is absolutely clear that coordination works," he said.

Norton said that most regions of the United States are showing economic growth, while prices remain relatively stable.

The outlook for most sectors of the printing and publishing industry is similarly favorable, Norton said. Advertising agencies are in full swing, which bodes well for the commercial and speciality sectors. In specialty, he noted, inventories are in better balance than previous years, which means "that sector, too, should do very well."

But, while newspapers are benefitting from picking up some of this national advertising, Norton said, publishers have indicated concern about falling Sunday newspaper sales and classified advertising.

Norton warned the flattest areas of the economy remain in the steel, paper, petroleum and petroleum derivatives industries. Steel has been particularly damaged by foreign dumping, he noted. "These less than projected results spill over into manufacturing jobs and will cause layoffs in that sector," he said. National unemployment averages, however, should remain in the mid-4 percent range, he said.

"Taking everything into consideration, the year ahead should be a good one, and the year 2000 should be a good one, as well," Norton said. Coordinating contracts with the International, with other local unions having common contracts and common employers, and with other AFL-CIO unions having contracts with the same employers is "in the best interest of serving your members and in serving the goals of the International union as well," he said.

Norton said the relatively good economic situation with low unemployment means that organizing campaigns need to get underway as soon as possible. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that when things are good in the national economy, people do not necessarily live in fear of their jobs and thus talking to them about affiliation . . . is a lot easier in that kind of environment than it would be if the economic environment tightened up and unemployment started to rise," he said.

An area of concern for GCIU and other workers is health care, Norton said. He said that the "health care industry will likely be returning to an earlier posture of being out of control before the Clinton administration brought some temperance back to their rate policies by advancing the concept of a national health care plan."

Consequently, Norton said, employers are expected to seek higher co-premiums and co-payments for health insurance from their workers.

Norton urged GCIU locals to "look ahead for our members and compare not only what we have in our present collective bargaining agreements but rather where those coverages are going and whether they can be as secure as the Graphic Communications National Health and Welfare Fund."

This non-profit plan, Norton said, "has been created by the GCIU, governed by the GCIU, and designed for the long haul in health care coverage. That calls for a frank comparison of what you already have and what is available through the national GCIU plan" in terms of costs and coverage.

Norton said the International "stands ready to help" locals to bring the four U.S. and Canadian GCIU pension plans to the bargaining table. Each of these plans has "a remarkable base for pension benefits and all who participate in these benefits. . . . There are few individual local plans that can compare favorably, with any of the national plans of the GCIU," he said.

Norton said if a local can combine one of the three national GCIU pension plans that are negotiated with employers with the self-contributing Inter-Local Pension Fund that is administered solely by GCIU locals, that local's retirees "can look forward with pension benefits including Social Security which would provide an income of close to 65 percent of what they would be earning at the time of retirement. There are not many unions in the AFL-CIO . . . that can compare with what the GCIU has to offer in this area."

On coordination, Norton said the International "will be looking to coordinate negotiations wherever possible." Because coordination involves the International, he urged locals to assist in the coordination effort by:

• Providing the International with a copy of initial bargaining proposals.

• Checking with the International Contract, Research and Education Department on bargaining proposal language before submitting them to the company.

• Keeping the International up to date on bargaining situations.

• Being willing to coordinate with other GCIU locals that have the same employer in different locations or during common sector negotiations when contract results for one local can affect those of another.

"We want you to be willing to submit to a common approach to your negotiations and to keep abreast of the progress of all the local unions involved" in coordinated bargaining efforts, Norton said.