Strike Averted as 'SF Chron' Guild and Management Come to Terms on New Contract

By: Joe Strupp Newspaper Guild negotiators, who represent about 900 employees at the San Francisco Chronicle, reached a tentative agreement with the company Sunday on a new contract that includes no immediate layoffs, a no-strike agreement, and a buyout offer for 120 employees at the financially-strapped daily, the Chronicle reported Monday.

The five-year contract also offers an 11% raise, spread out over the life of the contract beginning in January.

The paper reports that management would offer 120 employees buyouts, with a year of health benefits, Michael Cabanatuan, president of the Northern California Media Guild, told the paper. Cabanatuan, a reporter, said he doesn't expect layoffs as long as the 120 employees agree to depart.

"We think there will be a great deal of interest in the buyout offer," he told the paper. If not, there will be "involuntary terminations," union officials said.

?This is a terrible contract but it?s the best we are going to do. I don?t how much more there is to say,? Cabanatuan said in a comment on the guild local's Web site.

The guild had been working under terms of a contract that expired June 30 and originally was negotiated in 1994 following a 12-day strike. The new five-year deal, which takes effect upon ratification by guild members, includes a prohibition against strikes.

A pay freeze that has been in place since the beginning of the year will end in January for journalists and outside salespersons, the paper reported. But about 40 percent of Guild members will be subject to immediate pay cuts, Cabanatuan said.

The company will pay more for health insurance and toward an employee pension plan, union officials said. But all Guild employees will lose a week of vacation, have their annual sick days cut to 5 from 10, and see fewer opportunities to work part time. Also, 43 middle managers will be transferred out of the union's oversight and into management, the paper reported.

Guild members will vote Wednesday on the deal. Company officials declined to comment Sunday.

Both sides agreed that cuts were necessary for the paper, which lost at least $62 million in 2004.

"Much has been asked of our Guild-represented employees in these negotiations," Chronicle publisher Frank Vega said in a statement released Sunday. "We understand that this tentative agreement we have reached with the Guild is not going to be popular with everyone, but this agreement is essential to the future of The Chronicle and its employees."

Three of the paper's seven unions are still negotiating.

The Chronicle is owned by the Hearst Corporation.