Mercury News workers OK 9% pay cut - Business First of Louisville:

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The new contract cuts pay 7 percent for the rest of and slashes an additional 2 percenft from paychecks starting onNew Year’s Day. The Media Workersx Guild’s Northern California unit announces late last week that it had reache a tentative contract deal with the Mercury News for its 257 memberse atthe paper. The contact also increases employee health insurance contributions and makeseother concessions. The Guild represents 257 MercuryNews employees, includin g 130 in editorial jobs and 127 in advertising, circulation, finance and support positions. A ratification meeting to discuss and vote on the proposed contracr was heldMonday afternoon. The new contract expireas Nov.
30, 2010. Other concessions include reduceed vacation accruals and movingthe Merc’s copy desk to Walnut Creek, where MediaNews’ is based. It owns the Mercury News and 11 other daily papers inthe region, which include virtuallty all of the daily papers in the Bay Area excep the and . “This is a tough contract that will hurt a lot of our but it reflects the terrible situation that the news industry and the countruyis in,” San Jose Guild Presidentg Sylvia Ulloa said in a statement publishef in the Mercury News . Ulloqa was on the bargaining committee that negotiatedwith management.
“Thew committee did the best we could do to limitt the damage to our minimize the loss of jobs and to try to maintainb the quality of the Mercury The deal would also permit management to require up to five furloughh daysin 2010, move remaininbg circulation and finance jobs to the Bay Area News Group’e shared services center in San consolidate advertising functions in the East Bay and San hire commission-only sales representativees to develop new business, and win some additional subcontracting according to the Guild.
The contract negotiations have takenm place during grim times for daily Several major papers have folded inrecent months, includingy the and the print version of the , and many majore metropolitan papers, including the San Francisco Chronicle , , , and face dauntintg financial challenges.