By a vote of 132 to 54, the St. Louis Newspaper Guild on Saturday approved a 5½-year contract with the Post-Dispatch calling for a 6 per cent pay cut.
About 74 percent of the Guild's members cast votes. The Guild represents employees in the newsroom, advertising and building service at the Post.
The contract calls for a 6 percent wage cut, along with three unpaid, one-week furloughs over the next 2½ years. Wages would bounce back by 2.5 percent in each of the last three years of the contract if company revenue increases by at least 2 percent a year.
Some commission-based advertising sales representatives will receive an increase in their base pay to $575 a week from $400.
The contract includes a six-month moratorium on layoffs. The pact will also freeze pensions and eliminate retiree medical benefits for current employees.
"At the end of the day, the people didn't feel fighting the Post-Dispatch in this difficult economic time would have been a very prudent thing to do," said Jeff Gordon, Guild president.
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