William D. Solomon

William D. Solomon, who lived and breathed the quality and production advantages of GCIU printing – from the employers' vantage point – died May 31 of a massive heart attack. He was 60.

Solomon was president of the Graphic Arts Employers Association and the Human Incentive & Resource Education (HIRE) Institute, affiliated with the Printing Industries of America. GCIU Pres. James J. Norton, who worked for many years with Solomon to forge a strong, workable liaison with union employers, led General Board members at the start of their June session by standing in moments of silence for Solomon.

Norton said that "Bill was the industry's staunchest ally from the side of management." He indicated that Solomon's position will be difficult to fill.

Board member David R. Jacobs, president of Detroit 2C, observed that he had known Solomon for more than 30 years and that Solomon was a proven friend of labor.

GCIU Secy.-Treas. Gerald H. Deneau said that he and Solomon had worked together years ago in the Detroit area. Deneau said that because Solomon conducted mutual interest bargaining sessions, contracts were usually achieved much quicker because the sessions brought the union and employer together.

Solomon had described HIRE as an organization "dedicated to promoting positive labor-management relationships within the industry." He was a longtime leader of the commercial employers segment of the printing industry and a strong influence within the PIA. Solomon spent more than 25 years serving management in the printing and graphic arts industry in the fields of human resource management, collective bargaining, contract administration, equal opportunity, safety, and workers' compensation programs.

He had served as a management trustee on several health and welfare plans and on the GCIU Supplemental Retirement and Disability Fund board of trustees.

Solomon had testified before Congress on pension, wages, and other management issues, as well as labor issues, on behalf of the printing industry. Selected as a U.S. management delegate to the United Nations' International Labor Organization, he served as employer chairman of the Committee on Training and Retraining in the Printing and Publishing Industry and as chairman of the Committee on Technology and Job Security.

Prior to joining GAE/PIA, Solomon served as director of industrial relations for the Safran Printing Co., a web offset printer in Detroit, and with the IBM Corp.

For more than 20 years, Solomon was instrumental in the continuation of formal liaison between labor and management. The GCIU and GAE remain the only industry-wide labor-management entities to have jointly endorsed total quality management, mutual interest bargaining, and several joint statements – including a declaration of interdependence.

Efforts of the joint liaison committee have been publicized in a chapter of the book "Unions, Management, and Quality." The chapter resulted from observations by both Norton and Solomon.

In 1995, Norton and Solomon signed an historic joint statement of commitment with articles of mutual understanding, citing such areas of need as providing adequate training and retraining, along with the appropriate tools to do jobs efficiently. Another commitment was to continue to recognize the effect that technology has on the printing industry. The third goal was to promote to the public the value of production as a result of the collective bargaining process.

When Solomon addressed delegates at a GCIU conference in recent years, he proudly waved an old pay stub he had saved from his work for a union printer. His point was that a union shop provides the highest quality production for the printer and the best wages and benefits for the workers.

Norton said that Solomon's death "is a tremendous loss to the GCIU and the employers. His was a strong voice of reason in building a working relationship between the union and management so that both would benefit."

Survivors include his wife, Ann; two daughters, Michele Scollard and Jennifer Olcovich; two sons, Lee and Brent Solomon; two grandchildren, Lauren and Eric Scollard; his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Solomon; a sister, Martha Hyams; and a brother, Fred Solomon.

The family asked that contributions in Solomon's memory be made to the Myeloma Foundation, 2120 Stanley Hills Dr., Los Angeles, Calif. 90046; or to Temple Ner Shalom, 14010 Spriggs Rd., Woodbridge, Va. 22193.