'Star-Ledger' Avoids Sale With Drivers Union Deal

By: Joe Strupp The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., will apparently remain under its present ownership after the last of three unions agreed to a new contract late Tuesday, the paper reported.

"The union agreement was the last of three conditions set July 31 by Advance Publications to maintain ownership of the nation's 15th-largest daily paper," the paper stated. "Losses buffeting the newspaper industry prompted the ultimatum, and the paper would have been put up for sale or eventually closed had the vote gone the other way."

The Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union approved the agreement 161-6 during voting Tuesday, which included rank and file members from other area papers.

The paper reported that, "the union essentially agreed to forgo wage increases it had won through collective bargaining, instead accepting wage freezes with some annual lump sum payments. The newsroom has had a similar wage freeze in place for three years. The drivers also agreed to drop grievances filed after the newspaper closed a printing plant in Montville, eliminated jobs there and consolidated printing in Piscataway."

In addition to concessions from the 90-person drivers union, the paper also recently struck a new deal with the 400-member mailers union that voted last month to approve a new contract that includes a three-year wage freeze and the buyout of 100 of its members.

Management had also sought buyouts from 200 of the newspaper's 750 full-time, non-union employees. The paper announced last week it had secured enough buyouts to meet that requirement.

"I'm thrilled The Star-Ledger will remain part of our family," Donald Newhouse, president of Advance Publications, which has owned the paper since 1935, said in a story. "I have confidence in The Star-Ledger management team, and I think we can do in the future what we have done in the past: serve the needs of our readers and advertisers."

Publisher George Arwady added in a full-page letter in Wednesday's paper: "As of today, The Star-Ledger family has achieved the three objectives we outlined in July as necessary to our survival," the letter read in part. "I use the word family, because the past few months have underscored how deep the bonds are among the people who produce this great paper, as well as those who read it."

"It was unclear Tuesday evening precisely how many full-time non-union employees will be leaving the newspaper, but upward of one-third of the newsroom staff will go," the paper stated.

Some sources have said as many as 400 non-union workers had put in for buyouts, creating a potential battle over who will get the packages that include one year's salary.

Editor Jim Willse said in the paper that more buyouts had been sought by workers than expected, but did not offer a precise number: "The goal was to have 130 newsroom staffers sign up for the buyout. Considerably more than that did. Over the coming days, we need to decide how many of the buyouts will be accepted, and we'll have to start making plans for the paper going forward."

"Newhouse had said in previous interviews that The Star-Ledger and a sister paper, The Times of Trenton, stood to lose $30 million to $40 million this year," the paper said.