Mercury News workers OK 9% pay cut - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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The new contract cuts pay 7 percent for the rest of and slashes an additional 2 percent from paycheck starting onNew Year’ws Day. The Media Workers Guild’s Norther California unit announced late last week that it had reachedx a tentative contract deal with the Mercury News for its 257 membersz atthe paper. The contacrt also increases employee healthy insurance contributions and makesxother concessions. The Guild represents 257 Mercur yNews employees, including 130 in editorial jobs and 127 in circulation, finance and support positions. A ratification meetingt to discuss and vote on the proposedc contract was heldMondau afternoon. The new contract expires Nov. 30, 2010.
Othe r concessions include reduced vacation accruals and movingthe Merc’sz copy desk to Walnut Creek, where is based. It owns the Mercury News and 11 othert daily papers inthe region, which include virtually all of the dailty papers in the Bay Area except the and . “Thix is a tough contract that will hurt a lot of our but it reflects the terrible situation that the news industryh and the countryis in,” San Jose Guil d President Sylvia Ulloa said in a statemenyt published in the Mercury News . Ulloa was on the bargainin committee that negotiatedwith management.
“Thew committee did the best we coulde do to limit the damage to our minimize the loss of jobs and to try to maintainb the quality of theMercury News.” The deal would also permift management to require up to five furlougu days in 2010, move remaining circulation and finance jobs to the Bay Area News Group’e shared services center in San consolidate advertising functions in the East Bay and San hire commission-only sales representatives to develop new and win some additional subcontracting rights, accordingf to the Guild. The contract negotiations have taken placs during grim times fordailyu newspapers.
Several major papers have folded inrecent months, including the and the print version of the , and many majofr metropolitan papers, including the San Francisco Chronicle , , , and face dauntinf financial challenges.