By: Mark Fitzgerald As clocks ticked past the Chicago Newspaper Guild's noon Wednesday strike deadline, reporter and union spokesman Scott Fornek emerged from the Chicago Sun-Times offices to say that members were ready to walk but were still at their desks.
"Our members are all upstairs with their coats on, all their personal possessions gathered in the city room, and everyone is aware what time it is," he said at about 12:15 p.m.
Fornek said the union was still at the negotiating table but would not characterize the talks further.
The last reported demands at the table were for a 7% first-year raise from the union and a counter-offer of 2% from Sun-Times management.
Negotiations are taking place against a background of allegations that former Publisher F. David Radler and Conrad Black, former CEO of the paper's Hollinger International owners -- and other executives -- improperly took fees and payments amounting to $400 million, or 95 percent of the company's net operating profits, over the past seven years.
Earlier this week, Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert told Publisher John Cruickshank that in the event of a strike, he would walk out also. Another guild member and columnist, Mark Brown, issued a statement as the strike deadline passed. "If a strike is called, be assured I will be on strike and will be on the picket line," said Brown, whose column appears in the space once occupied by Mike Royko's.
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