LEAD: Bertram A. Powers, the dapper, bow-tied chief of the printers' union in New York City, has a vivid memory of the day he first glimpsed the shape of things to come. Like H. G. Wells, he found it a sobering experience.

His Vision Realized, a Union Leader Retires

LEAD: Because of the Krishna Procession, Fifth Avenue from 59th Street to Washington Square Park will be closed tomorrow from noon until about 3 P.M.      Because of the Broadway Mall

Traffic Alert

LEAD: ABC, which had proposed its own viewer measurement system, announced yesterday that it would instead use NBC's plan to verify audience size to advertisers.

ABC to Use NBC Plan On Ratings

LEAD: Losing funds because of a sharp rise in fare-beating, New York City transit officials are seeking to cut costs in a way that will mean fewer token clerks at busy stations and thus even longer lines.

Long Subway Fare Lines May Get Longer

LEAD: Responding to an emergency appeal by President Ion Iliescu, thousands of miners from northern Romania descended on the capital city today with wooden clubs and rubber truncheons and sought crude revenge for anti-Government rioting Wednesday.

Evolution in Europe;   ROMANIAN MINERS INVADE BUCHAREST

LEAD: The Standard & Poor's Corporation downgraded its credit ratings today for the Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Corporation, signaling sagging faith in the auto industry's finances.

Ratings Drop For Chrysler, Ford Debt

LEAD: For half a century, millions of Puerto Ricans have crossed back and forth over the ''air bridge'' linking New York and San Juan. These days, the air bridge also joins New York and its southernmost ''suburb'' in the devastating epidemic of AIDS.

AIDS Travels New York-Puerto Rico 'Air Bridge'

LEAD: Prices at the producer level rose by three-tenths of 1 percent in May as a sharp upturn in the cost of food was largely offset by another hefty decline in the cost of energy, the Government reported today.

Producer Prices Up 0.3% in May

LEAD: In a new sign that the 10-month-old savings and loan bailout could finally be turning into a partisan issue, House Democrats today disputed the Bush Administration's contention that the slumping real estate market was responsible for the escalating costs of the rescue effort and charged that mismanagement by the

Savings Debate Gets Partisan Tone

GOING OUT GUIDE

LEAD: With all those empty picture frames in the Lehman and American wings, the Metropolitan Museum looks as if it's been mugged. The frames, stripped of the pictures they once contained, hang idle, protectors of nothing but space.

Frames for Frames' Sake at the Met

LEAD: On his visit to Camp David this month, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev dropped German unification and Soviet political reform for a moment to quiz President Bush about the logistics of being President. How does paper flow in his office? Who decides who gets into the Oval Office? How does his staff handle

White House Tutors Kremlin In How a Presidency Works

LEAD: Silent, barefoot men dug a very small grave recently at the Idgar Martyrs' Cemetery, a new landmark on the outskirts of this battered city. The grave was for 6-year-old Sajad Ahmad Sofi, shot by Indian troops, his relatives said, as he tried to hide between his father's legs during a search of the family home.

In Kashmir Valley, Alienation Turns Deadly

LEAD: It's turning into a high-prestige business, the manufacture of prison cells. Michael Rosenberg, vice president of Mark Correctional Systems, can't keep up with all his invitations. ''Our cell will be at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach, July 15-17, for the National Association of Counties,'' said Mr.

Our Towns;   Better Mousetrap For the 1990's Is a Prison Cell

LEAD: The New Jersey Institute of Technology, one of New Jersey's fastest-growing centers of learning, is a favorite point of entry into the United States for graduate students from overseas, especially India and China.

Inquiry Finds Aid Abuses at Jersey Institute

LEAD: John Cardinal O'Connor warned Roman Catholic politicians yesterday that they risked being excommunicated from the Catholic Church if they were persistent in supporting a woman's right to abortion.

O'Connor Warns Politicians Risk Excommunication Over Abortion

LEAD:    Germany's Jobless Spies    Among the problems to be resolved in the drive toward German reunification is how to handle the thousands on each side who were combatants in the cold war. Page A6.       Treasures Sought in Texas    An East German church whose medieval treasures are thought to be in Texas is sending two lawyers to try to recover them.

INSIDE

Old comic-strip sleuth, gloriously reinvented.

Review/FIlm;   A Cartoon Square Comes to Life In 'Dick Tracy'

Ouisa Kittredge, the Upper East Side hostess at the center of John Guare's ''Six Degrees of Separation,'' delights in the fact that it only takes a chain of six people to connect anyone on the planet with anyone else. But what about those who are eternally separated from others because they cannot find the right six people?

Review/Theater;   The Schisms of the City, Comically and Tragically

LEAD: The roles of two New Jersey banks have become pivotal in the talks between Donald J. Trump and his bankers as uncertainty grew about whether a deal would be reached in time to enable Mr. Trump to meet his debt payments, bankers involved in the talks said yesterday.

Key Roles for Jersey Banks In Loan Talks With Trump

LEAD: A painful era in this Federal city's relationship to Congress and the country comes to an end with Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr.'s decision not to run for re-election, but it is far from clear whether what follows will be a political rebirth for the troubled city or just a refocusing of complaints by its legion of critics.

After Barry, Uncertainty;   Mayor's Move Brings Painful Era to Close

LEAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering the most sweeping changes in its history in the rules that govern proxy contests. The move, which is still in the preliminary stages, could increase the power of dissident shareholders and make it easier to oust corporate boards of directors.

As Proxy Use Widens, New Rules Are Urged

LEAD: The Soviet Parliament today resoundingly rejected the Government's proposal for a steep increase in bread prices this summer, delivering a serious setback to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's plan to wean consumers from state subsidies.

Evolution in Europe;   SOVIET PARLIAMENT REJECTS INCREASE IN PRICE OF BREAD

LEAD:    THE ECONOMY       Producer prices rose by 0.3 percent in May as a sharp upturn in the cost of food was largely offset by another hefty decline in the cost of energy, the Government reported. [Page D1.]  Business inventories inched upward by 0.1 percent in April, while sales fell 1.1 percent, the Commerce Department said.

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: In a decision likely to fuel the growing debate over how to pay for medical care for poor people, the Supreme Court ruled today that hospitals and nursing homes can sue states for higher Medicaid reimbursement rates.

June 15, 1990

Headlines from June 15, 1990

His Vision Realized, a Union Leader Retires

Traffic Alert

ABC to Use NBC Plan On Ratings

Long Subway Fare Lines May Get Longer

Evolution in Europe; ROMANIAN MINERS INVADE BUCHAREST

Billboard 200

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

I'm Breathless: Music From And Inspired By The Film Dick Tracy (Soundtrack)

Pretty Woman

Brigade

Historical Context for June 15, 1990