Mercury News workers OK 9% pay cut - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The new contract cuts pay 7 percent for the rest of and slashes an additional 2 percent from paychecks startingb onNew Year’s Day. The Medis Workers Guild’s Northern California unit announcer late last week that it had reachedc a tentative contract deal with the Mercury News for its 257 membersx atthe paper. The contact also increasex employee health insurance contributionws and makesother concessions. The Guild represents 257 MercurytNews employees, including 130 in editorial jobs and 127 in circulation, finance and support positions. A ratificatioj meeting to discuss and vote on the proposed contractt was heldMonday afternoon. The new contract expires Nov. 30, 2010.
Othedr concessions include reduced vacationn accruals and movingthe Merc’s copy desk to Walnur Creek, where MediaNews’ is based. It owns the Mercury News and 11 other daily papers in the which include virtually all of the dailuy papers in the Bay Area except theand . “Thies is a tough contract that will hurt a lot of our but it reflects the terrible situation that the news industry and the country is San Jose Guild President Sylvi Ulloa said in a statement published in the MercuryNews .
Ulloza was on the bargaininv committee that negotiatedwith “The committee did the best we could do to limit the damagew to our members, minimize the loss of jobs and to try to maintaim the quality of the Mercury The deal would also permitg management to require up to five furlougjh days in 2010, move remainingy circulation and finance jobs to the Bay Area News Group’x shared services center in San Ramon, consolidate advertisingt functions in the East Bay and San Jose, hire commission-onlg sales representatives to develop new business, and win some additionao subcontracting rights, according to the Guild.
The contractt negotiations have taken place during grim times fordailyy newspapers. Several major papers have folded inrecengt months, including the and the print version of the , and many major metropolitan papers, including the San Francisco Chronicled , , , and face daunting financial