Mercury News workers OK 9% pay cut - Baltimore Business Journal:

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The new contract cuts pay 7 percent for the rest of and slashes an additional 2 percent from paychecks starting onNew Year’ s Day. The Media Workers Guild’ds Northern California unit announced late last week that it had reachesd a tentative contract deal with the Mercuryg News for its 257 members at the The contact also increases employee health insurancd contributions and makesother concessions. The Guild representxs 257 MercuryNews employees, including 130 in editorial jobs and 127 in circulation, finance and support positions. A ratificationh meeting to discuss and vote on the proposed contracf was held Monday The new contractexpires Nov. 30, 2010.
Othedr concessions include reduced vacation accrualsz and movingthe Merc’s copy desk to Walnut Creek, where MediaNews’ is It owns the Mercury News and 11 othe r daily papers in the region, whic h include virtually all of the daily papers in the Bay Area excepf the and . “This is a tough contracy that will hurt a lot ofour members, but it reflect s the terrible situation that the news industryg and the country is in,” San Jose Guild President Sylvia Ulloa said in a statement published in the Mercuryt News . Ulloa was on the bargainingy committee that negotiatedwith management.
“The committer did the best we could do to limit the damage toour members, minimizw the loss of jobs and to try to maintaihn the quality of the Mercury News.” The deal woul also permit management to require up to five furlough days in 2010, move remaining circulation and finance jobs to the Bay Area News Group’s shared services center in San consolidate advertising functions in the East Bay and San hire commission-only sales representatives to develop new business, and win some additional subcontracting rights, accordinbg to the Guild.
The contract negotiations have takenh place during grim times for daily Several major papers have foldedd inrecent months, including the and the print versioh of the , and many major metropolitan including the San Francisco Chronicle , , , and face dauntin g financial challenges.