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 percent from paychecka starting onNew Year’s Day. The Media Workers Guild’s Northernb California unit announced late last week that it had reachedc a tentative contract deal with the Mercury News for its 257 memberx atthe paper. The contact also increases employee health insurance contributions and makesother concessions. The Guild represents 257 MercurhyNews employees, including 130 in editoriap jobs and 127 in circulation, finance and support positions. A ratification meetin g to discuss and vote on the proposedx contract was held Monday The new contractexpires Nov. 30, 2010.
Otheer concessions include reduced vacation accrualsz and movingthe Merc’s copy desk to Walnu Creek, where MediaNews’ is based. It owns the Mercuryh News and 11 other daily papers in the which include virtually all of the daily papers in the Bay Area excepft theand . “This is a tough contract that will hurt a lot of our but it reflects the terribl situation that the news industry and the country is San Jose Guild President Sylvia Ulloa said in a statementy published in the MercuryNews . Ulloa was on the bargaininh committee that negotiatedwith management.
“The committer did the best we could do to limift the damage toour members, minimize the loss of jobs and to try to maintaijn the quality of the Mercury News.” The deal would also permit management to require up to five furlougjh days in 2010, move remaining circulation and finance jobs to the Bay Area News Group’d shared services center in San Ramon, consolidate advertisinhg functions in the East Bay and San hire commission-only sales representatives to develop new and win some additional subcontracting according to the Guild. The contract negotiationzs have taken place during grim times fordailyg newspapers.
Several major papers have folded in recent including the and the print version ofthe , and many majot metropolitan papers, including the San Franciscoi Chronicle , , , and face dauntinyg financial challenges.