A Likely Story

Friday, October 14th

At eight a.m. yesterday morning, the printers and warehousemen and other skilled craftsmen at the Heritage Consolidated Press in Potted Pine, Pennsylvania, went out on strike. Clerical workers and other employees left at noon, in sympathy. The union contract expired last June thirtieth, and the employees have been working without a contract while negotiations have continued. The employees decided to go out at this precise moment because Heritage Consolidated was about to start on its single largest order of the year: The Christmas Book.

As usual, a union goes on strike to pressure not the employer but some third party — in this case, Craig, Harry & Bourke — in hopes the third party will apply direct pressure on the employer to settle the dispute to the union’s satisfaction. According to Robert Wilson, head honcho at Craig, who phoned me personally this morning to give me the news — this is perhaps the third time I’ve spoken with him in my life — this time the union’s strategy is unlikely to work. Not only does Craig have very little pressure it can bring to bear on Heritage Consolidated, but Heritage Consolidated has apparently been prepared to shut this plant down for some time — they have others, mostly in the south — and are willing to treat an extended strike as a de facto closing, which would be a lot cheaper than if the deed were done the proper way, with severance pay and all the rest of it.

Unless the strike is settled by the end of next week, there will be no copies of The Christmas Book at Christmas.

Because of Annie’s reversion clause, if there is no Christmas Book this year, there is no Christmas Book.

There is no Christmas Book.