Toledo Newspaper Unions Approve Contract

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4846011.html

May 29, 2007, 10:28PM
Toledo Newspaper Unions Approve Contract

By JOHN SEEWER Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

TOLEDO, Ohio — The Blade's largest union approved a new contract Tuesday that includes wage and job cuts for employees in the newsroom and advertising and circulation departments.

A total of seven unions that reached a tentative agreement with the newspaper last week have now approved new contracts that will end a nine-month-old lockout of about a third of The Blade's union workers.

The unions represent about 650 workers whose contracts expired in March 2006. The six other unions approved agreements last week. An eighth union approved a pact last year.

More than 85 percent of the Toledo Newspaper Guild's 300 members voted Tuesday on the three-year contract, which includes buyout offers or layoffs for eight to 11 workers, said guild president Lillian Covarrubias. The guild didn't release vote totals but said the agreement was approved by a nearly 2-1 ratio.

Buyouts and layoffs will eliminate an additional 26 positions among the other unions, including drivers and mailers. There also will be a 16 percent pay cut on all wages above $490 per week for all full-time workers, except press operators.

"We have to move on and deal with the concessions we had to make, and we hope this will make the company more profitable," Covarrubias said. The pay cuts will force some workers to make lifestyle changes, she added.

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