Over the past year and a half the shop, located in the Pathfinder Building in New York, has undergone a major transformation. It has gone from a shop with a prepress department that used film and plates that had to be stripped — the very labor-intensive norm in the industry for decades — to a completely digital work flow.

This was made possible by Capital Fund contributions that paid for the installation of a new computer-to-plate system that allows the shop staff to take digital files and output them directly onto plates for the presses. Printing jobs that used to take hours or days for a prepress department to make ready for press now can often be prepared for the computer-to-plate machine in less than an hour. This dramatic technological change has enabled the shop staff to increase efficiency and productivity, while reducing the staff size from 47 in July 1998 to its current size of 32.

The computer-to-plate equipment makes it possible to keep all the books and pamphlets Pathfinder publishes or distributes — more than 350 titles — in print and ready to go back to press at any time as needed. This requires preparing each of these titles in digital form. More than 100 volunteers across the United States, and some also in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Cuba, have taken on this project. Their effort, combined with the advances being made by the print shop staff in mastering the capacity of the new equipment, is resulting in a flow of high-quality books being printed in the shop. As this issue goes to press, the shop is reprinting the History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky. This invaluable book, more than 1,300 pages long, has gone through many printings since it was originally translated into English in 1932, but this is the first time in all those years that the type has been reset. The new, more readable type makes the book a much improved tool for present and future generations to use.

A significant part of the current Capital Fund donations is being deferred to provide a bridge for the shop as it makes necessary changes and expansion of its commercial customer base so that it is fully sustainable as a digital shop. Because of this, the priority project of creating a single press room on the shop factory floor has had to be postponed a few months.

As the corner is turned, the Capital Fund contributions that have been deferred to cover other expenses will go into the new press room, which will help advance productivity on the presses by eliminating the wall that separates the two Heidelberg sheetfed presses — used to print the text and covers for Pathfinder books — and web press, used to print the Militant. The newly integrated press room will have a new air conditioning, humidity, and dust-control system installed, resulting in a big improvement in working conditions, as well as quality and productivity.

Contributions have come to the fund from individuals in several cities. The largest, a $30,000 contribution, came from a trust fund. Other sources for contributions include inheritance and accident settlements.

Also, workers in several industries are receiving bonuses as a result of recent contract settlements with their employers, and socialist workers across the country are contributing these bonuses to the Capital Fund. Employers try to pay bonuses instead of giving workers annual wage increases or as a way to reduce pay raises. Workers need annual pay hikes that keep up with inflation and that pensions and benefits are often pegged to. The scam of offering signing bonuses in lieu of wage hikes works to the benefit of the employers, who then start the next round of negotiations with the workers at a lower base pay level than if wage increases were paid.

Because of this fact, socialist workers view these so-called bonuses as "blood money," and contribute them to the Capital Fund so that the best use of them can be made in producing books that explain the lessons of the struggles of working people and the road forward to the creation of a workers and farmers government.

Seven workers at the large Boeing aircraft facilities in the Seattle area donated $5,649.43 to the Capital Fund from ratification bonuses distributed by Boeing as part of the new contract approved by the International Association of Machinists September 2.

Aircraft cleaners at US Airways in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are pledging their signing checks to the fund. A rail worker in Washington, D.C., has pledged his $7,000 short-crew buyout.

Eight AMTRAK workers from both the East and West coasts are pledging their $400 contract signing bonuses to the Capital Fund. They are also going to contribute a portion of the back pay that will come as part of the settlement. Other fund contributions are coming from auto workers and steelworkers who are receiving contract ratification checks.

For more information on how you can help, write the Capital Fund, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014.  
 
 
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