Big cuts loom at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reached tentative contracts with bargaining units from its 11 different labor unions, lifting a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the future of the 220-year-old newspaper.

Votes on the three-year contracts, which would run from last month to March 2010, likely will take place in the next two weeks, said Newspaper Guild President Mike Bucsko.

Both sides declined to release terms, but a press release from the unions cited "enormous financial sacrifices." Leaders representing the paper's 1,042 unionized employees had previously said that they expected job reductions and changes in work rules.

"When we entered these negotiations, we were cognizant of the Post-Gazette's difficult financial situation and were determined to assist as much as possible in placing the newspaper on sound financial footing," said the Pittsburgh Newspaper Unions Unity Council, which represents the 11 unions.

The Post-Gazette has projected a $20 million loss for 2006 and is battling "flat circulation, declining advertising revenue, high costs and competition from other media," said President David Beihoff.

"These agreements are a collaborative effort by management and the unions to ensure the financial viability of the Post-Gazette," Mr. Beihoff said. "If ratified, the agreements would begin to achieve realistic savings and efficiencies while enabling the Post-Gazette to continue its 220-year tradition of producing a trusted, high-quality news product.''

The Block family has published the Post-Gazette since 1927, but said in an Aug. 31 letter to unions that it was prepared to sell the paper if new labor contracts did not produce significant cost savings. The family also owns the Toledo Blade., here labor contract negotiations are deadlocked and management has locked out about 220 of its 600 union workers.

Click on the headline to read the full story By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette