James Austin; led newspaper union
James Austin, 80, of Sewell, the labor-union leader of an estimated 1,000 pressmen at the Inquirer, the Daily News, and other newspapers in the region from 1994 to 1997, died of complications from sepsis Tuesday, Aug. 23, at his home.
James Austin, 80, of Sewell, the labor-union leader of an estimated 1,000 pressmen at the Inquirer, the Daily News, and other newspapers in the region from 1994 to 1997, died of complications from sepsis Tuesday, Aug. 23, at his home.
"Jim was a very outstanding guy, firm but fair," said Joseph Inemer, president of Local 16-N of the Graphic Communications Conference-International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who succeeded Mr. Austin as the union's chief.
Mr. Austin was a pressman at the Bulletin and, after it closed in January 1982, at the Daily News.
He was a shop steward at the Daily News until he was elected in 1994 to the top union post, which at the time was business agent for Printers Local 16-N. The title changed to president and the union's name to GCC-IBT Local 16-N after Mr. Austin left.
Pressmen oversee the huge presses that turn out newspapers. Mr. Austin was in charge of a team of six workers on one Daily News press, said Al Gray, a pressroom supervisor for the Inquirer and Daily News.
"He was thorough, disciplined, reliable," Gray said of Mr. Austin.
The union work "was a very stressful job," Inemer said, because Mr. Austin represented not only pressmen at the Philadelphia papers but also at other publishers, such as the Camden Courier-Post and the Gloucester County Times.
"He had a lot of responsibility," Inemer said, because "you have families whose members are relying on them."
A 1997 stroke, affecting his left side, forced him to retire, said a daughter, Katherine O'Hara.
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Austin grew up in West Philadelphia and attended Overbrook High School.
At the Bulletin, Mr. Austin was a member of a bowling league, O'Hara said.
When his children were youngsters, she said, "he coached all of us" in Little League and Pee Wee games.
From the time he was 17 until his stroke in 1997, "he was an avid golfer."
And though he had been "a very quiet man, after his stroke he became talkative."
Besides his daughter, Mr. Austin is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary; sons Jim, Mike, Tom, and Tim; daughter Ann Altemus; two brothers; and nine grandchildren.
A visitation was set from 9 to 10:45 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at Mary, Mother of Mercy Parish, 500 Greentree Rd., Glassboro, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there.
Donations may be sent to Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, Suite 300, 5 Eves Dr., Marlton, N.J. 08053.
Condolences may be offered to the family at kelleyfhpitman.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele