'Times' decision day nears

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 8

'Times' decision day nears

NZPA London Wednesday will be critical for the future of Times Newspapers, Ltd, publisher of “The Times” and the "Sunday Times.” That is when the executive of the National Society of Operative Printers and Media Personnel is due to decide its attitude to T.N.L.’s call for 600 lay-offs. The owner, Rupert Murdoch, says that unless he secures economies the two papers .will close. The “Sunday Times” said yesterday that Natsopa was the key union in the dispute because its clerical members would account for 371, or almost two-thirds, of desired cuts among full-time staff.

By the time the union’s executive meets, T.N.L. should know how many have applied for voluntary redundancy with pay-offs of up to $58,000. ' Natsopa has denied allegations. that' it has used the threat of withdrawing union cards to put pressure on members, to reject voluntary lay-off. The union' general secretary (Mr Owen O'Brien) says that, under the union’s rule 44. volunteers can retain membership - but only if the executive agrees there should be a specified number of lay-offs. There is no such deal between Natsopa and T.N.L, although negotiations continue.

As a result, Natsopa clerical members, ranging from secretaries to advertising staff and switchboard workers, are in a quandary. To qualify for the company’s redundancy payments; which are up to four times more generous than those under the basic State scheme, they have to apply by Wednesday, the deadline set by T.N.L. But in doing so they risk their careers in the printing industry. Meanwhile the London “Observer” reported yesterday that, other parts of Mr Murdoch’s empire ’ were “looking a bit crook.” In addition to the chronic Times Newspapers problems, his mass-circulation papers

in Britain — the "Sun” and “News of the World” — are showing the scars of the bingo war. Losses, are mounting in his other newspaper battleground -- New York City — and in Australia the airline in which his company has a 50 per cent interest (Ansett) is encountering financial turbulence. ■Add to this a soaring interest bill on the millions he has borrowed to finance his rapacious appetite for growth,' and all thejngredients are there for # a severe fall in this year's profits of Murdoch's News Corporation, a point which has not gone unnoticed on the stock markets, says the “Observer.”.