In past bargaining rounds, however, the teachers, police and firefighters repeatedly urged the city not to follow lock-step pattern bargaining, suggesting in part that they deserved higher raises because of their special jobs and skills.

By the early 80's, to judge by the role the two men play in Mr. Hoerr's extraordinarily detailed renditions of successive bargaining rounds, they were well on their way to crushing the opposition of the older executives who dreamed of rebuilding a technologically efficient U.S. Steel with the cooperation of the union.