BALTIMORE -- Union workers approved a company-sweetened labor contract with the Baltimore Sun late Tuesday, averting a strike at the 166-year-old newspaper after a bitter dispute over pay, health care costs, pensions and job security.þþDespite acceptance just 45 minutes ahead of a strike deadline, few members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild were happy with the four-year contract. Many complained that it gave them skimpy compensation and gave the Sun too much power to transfer employees freely and make more extensive use of outside contractors.þ þ þ þUnion members rejected a recommendation from the bargaining committee that the contract be turned down and negotiations continue. The vote for passage was 319-102, a union member said.þþStill, guild members expressed anger that the Sun, owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., had recruited replacement workers from other company newspapers to help the Baltimore daily continue to publish in case the roughly 600 editorial and advertising workers belonging to the guild went on strike. Tribune Co. also owns the Chicago Tribune.þþGuild members also approved, on a voice vote, a statement saying they accepted the contract ÿunder bitter protestÿ and blasted Tribune Co. for hiring replacement workers, or ÿscabs,ÿ in anticipation of a strike.þþFor Tribune, the negotiations were seen as the first test of the company's dealings with union newsrooms since buying the Sun and other newspapers of the former Times Mirror Co. in 2000. When it bought Times Mirror, Tribune had no union newsrooms at any of its newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune.þþBut in the end, the union went along with the agreement in light of a harsh job market in the newspaper industry and a sluggish national economy, with many members feeling that a strike would be neither effective nor wise in today's climate.þþMany union members came to work dressed in black Tuesday to protest the contract.þþThe Sun's publisher, Denise Palmer, and its editor, William Marimow, urged union members to accept the contract. Palmer said ÿthe Sun's reputation and tradition as a strong newspaper cannot be preserved by maintaining the status quo.ÿþþMarimow said the compensation package over the life of the contract amounted to $3,788 for each guild member. ÿFrom my point of view, that is a substantial offer considering current economic conditions--a very moderate rate of inflation, low interest rates and one of the most difficult job markets in the last decade.ÿþþThough workers would see their pay frozen in the first year, the newspaper raised a ratification bonus from $1,000 to $1,500 and sweetened the pay increase in the second year of the contract from $14 a week to $24 a week. In each of the final two years of the contract, workers would get raises of $10 a week.þþThe newspaper insisted that the contract contain more flexibility for moving workers from job to job, saying that a change in culture was needed at the newspaper in an era of increased competition, but the union managed to win some concessions on this provision. For example, the pay of a transferred worker could be reduced by no more than 3 percent.þþIn another move that eased some union concerns,the newspaper's negotiators reversed course and said that upon signing of the contract, seniority would remain the controlling factor in determining which workers are laid off. This maintained a ÿlast hired, first-firedÿ principle that the union sought.þþÿThat [the seniority provision] was critical for the guild leadership,ÿ said Jay Hancock, a union member and a business columnist for the paper.þ
Source: Chicago Tribune
