The San Jose Mercury News [Tony Ridderr’s old newspaper] reached a tentative agreement with the San Jose Newspaper Guild on Monday for a two-year contract that significantly reduces the number of layoffs the newspaper was planning.
Under the agreement, reached Monday morning after a 20-hour bargaining session, management will lay off up to 27 positions represented by the Guild, including 15 in the newsroom, rather than the 69 previously announced. The layoffs were set to happen Monday evening..
The contract would also resolve key jurisdictional issues so the paper can use the resources of the Mercury News' new owner, MediaNews, which owns eight other Bay Area dailies and several other groups of publications, including the Palo Alto Daily News Group and the weekly Silicon Valley Community Newspapers. The new contract would also allow the company to shift finance, advertising and other business-side jobs to a new shared services center in San Ramon.
``I think we did the best we could in a very tough strategic environment,'' said Luther Jackson, executive officer of the Guild.
A date has not been set for ratification by the union's membership.
The Mercury News, like many other papers, has seen ad revenue decline sharply in recent months, increasing pressure for cost-cutting measures. In October, the Mercury News said it would lay off 101 employees, including the 69 represented by the Guild.
The proposed contract would provide annual 2 percent wage increases for the next two years, while requiring employees to pay a portion of health insurance premiums and replacing the pension plan with a 401(k) plan that includes employer matching.
The contract would allow the company to plan and coordinate news coverage and to use that coverage in the Mercury News. A provision would require that use of such content would not result in layoffs of Guild employees.
It also will allow coordination of advertising sales with other MediaNews papers.
MediaNews acquired the Mercury News and three other former Knight Ridder papers this summer from McClatchy.
Click on the headline to read Pete Carey’s story in the Mercury News
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
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I noticed another item on a blog that reported MediaNews Group and Hearst Corp., the two companies that own nearly all of the large daily newspapers in the Bay Area, are disputing charges that they are collaborating on a business deal that is anti-competitive and illegal.
In a brief filed in federal court Wednesday, attorneys for MediaNews -- which owns the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune and several smaller Bay Area newspapers -- and Hearst Corp., parent company of The Chronicle, challenged the arguments behind a temporary restraining order that prevents them from taking steps toward consolidating advertising or distribution.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued the restraining order Nov. 28 after receiving memos between executives of the two companies articulating an intent to explore a partnership for Bay Area distribution and national advertising sales. Illston wrote that the new evidence -- of which she was previously unaware -- suggested a high level of cooperation between MediaNews and Hearst that may be illegal.
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