STAMFORD, Conn., April 9 (AP) — An arbitrator has ruled that the Tribune Company’s sale of The Advocate of Stamford to the Gannett Company violated a union contract by failing to require Gannett to honor the newsroom employees’ collective bargaining agreement, according to court papers filed Monday by the union.þþLocal 2110 of the United Automobile Workers, which represents the employees, promptly filed a request to extend an injunction that a federal judge issued last month temporarily blocking the sale.þþThe union has said that Gannett does not plan to honor the contract between Tribune and the union’s 36 reporters and photographers.þþ“We’re still in the process of understanding the arbitrator’s decision,” said a Tribune spokesman, Gary Weitman. “We’ll continue working with the U.A.W. to resolve this issue in a timely fashion.”þþA message seeking comment was left with a Gannett spokesman.þþThe arbitrator, M. David Vaughn, sustained the union’s grievance and ordered Tribune to refrain from executing any purchase agreement that excluded the collective bargaining agreement, according to legal papers filed by the union.þþTribune announced last month that it would sell The Advocate and The Greenwich Time, with a combined circulation of 39,000, for $73 million. They are the smallest of Tribune’s 11 daily newspapers, which include The Hartford Courant, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Sun of Baltimore.þþThe real estate mogul Samuel Zell is buying Tribune in a complex deal valued at about $8.2 billion.þþTribune acquired The Advocate and The Greenwich Time in June 2000 as part of its acquisition of the Times Mirror Company. Once completed, the sale will add to Gannett’s stable of 90 United States dailies, which include USA Today.þþ
Source: NY Times
