Staffers at 'Sac Bee' Agree to Pay Cuts to Save Jobs

By: Newspaper Guild members at The Sacramento Bee agreed Friday to take pay cuts of up to 6 percent to save jobs at the 152-year-old paper.

Members voted 65 percent to 35 percent to accept the deal, said Ed Fletcher, a reporter who heads the Guild's local at the Bee.

Even with the pay cuts, Bee managers plan to cut 34 of the 268 Guild-covered positions in the editorial and advertising departments. Another 19 jobs would have been in jeopardy if the union had rejected the pay cuts.

"I think it was a very difficult decision for unit members," Fletcher said. "On the one hand, you wanted to save the jobs for other people. But on the other hand, it's difficult to absorb a series of pay cuts on top of a salary freeze that's been in effect for a year already."

He said union members were voting under a cloud of uncertainty. Even by accepting the pay cuts, there was no assurance that they would keep their jobs if the recession and the Bee's revenue picture get worse.

Under the proposal, Guild-covered employees earning at least $50,000 a year would have their pay cut 6 percent. Employees making between $25,000 and $50,000 would lose 3 percent. Those making $25,000 or less would not face a wage cut.

The agreement also allows the newspaper's management to require employees to take a week of unpaid leave. Employees will be able to carry over no more than one week of unused vacation time from one year to the next.

Calls to McClatchy's corporate headquarters after the vote were referred to Bee Publisher Cheryl Dell, who was unavailable for comment. Linda Brooks, the Bee's vice president for human resources, was quoted by the newspaper as saying the Bee was "very grateful" for the union's approval of the cuts.