Four Sun-Times Media Group Unions OK Sale Concessions

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By: E&P Staff As the Tuesday deadline for labor concessions set by the Sun-Times Media Group's only public bidder slipped past, members of four unions voted to approve the pay cuts and work rule changes demanded by Chicago financier Jim Tyree's group.

The flagship Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday that the concessions were approved by the Teamsters, paper handlers, pressmen and machinist unions.

Four units of the Chicago Newspaper Guild, including the largest at the Sun-Times, have rejected the contract changes and called for negotiations with Tyree's group. The bidding group had set a Tuesday deadline for concessions from all 18 unions at the Sun-Times Media Group, but the judge overseeing the chain's bankruptcy effectively voided that with comments about the bid conditions.

Tyree's bid of $5 million in cash and the assumption of more than $20 million in liabilities will be put up in a bankruptcy court auction scheduled for Oct. 7. The executive director of the Chicago Guild has said he has had off-the-record conversations with a possible second bidder for the chain of 58 Chicago-area newspapers.

Sun-Times Media Group Chairman and interim CEO Jeremy Halbreich said in a memo to employees Tuesday there is only one bidder, Tyree, at this point.




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