Baltimore 'Sun' Labor Negotiations Continue

By: Ben Nuckols, Associated Press Writer (AP) Labor negotiators at The Sun and union representatives kept talking through the early part of Tuesday, the final day of a contract for about 650 of the newspaper's employees.

The chief negotiators for both sides met in the early morning hours with a mediator. While the parties said they expected discussions to continue, neither could predict when the full negotiating committees would return to the bargaining table.

The Sun made two new offers late Monday, spokesman Charles Fancher said. One calls for increasing the amount of annual raises in the later years of the proposed contract while reducing the amount of performance-based salary increases. The other offers a higher signing bonus for ratifying a contract before midnight Tuesday, when the current four-year contract expires, and signing it before July 3.

"They gave us a revised wage proposal," said Cet Parks of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which represents about half of the newspaper's 1,300 employees. "But it still had problematic elements, like pay-for-performance and a wage freeze in the first year."

Earlier Monday, guild members distributed letters asking Sun subscribers to boycott the newspaper in the event of a strike. The guild also encouraged its members at the newspaper to wear black Tuesday.

The talks have been marked by the newspaper's preparations to continue publishing if there is a strike, including the training of temporary workers, and a series of actions by the union to call attention to the talks. A byline strike entered a ninth day Tuesday, as reporters, photographers, and artists withheld their names from their work.

If negotiators cannot reach a deal on a new contract, union members could vote to strike. They could also opt to extend the current contract or continue working without a contract.

The last time Sun workers went on strike was in 1987, for six days.

The Sun, owned by the Chicago-based Tribune Co., has a daily circulation of 306,799 and a Sunday circulation of 466,916, Fancher said.