P-I, Times to talk separately with union

Seattle's two daily newspapers will negotiate with their largest union separately this year, breaking a nearly half-century tradition of joint or coordinated bargaining of new labor contracts.

The Seattle Times notified the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Monday of its decision to bargain independently with the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which represents about 750 employees at the two papers. The Guild's existing contracts with both papers expire July 21; negotiations are to start next month.

The owners of the two papers have been fighting in court for three years over the joint-operating agreement (JOA) that binds them, but last month they agreed to submit the dispute to binding arbitration. That agreement led directly to The Times' decision to part company with the P-I in negotiating with the Guild, Times spokeswoman Jill Mackie said Monday.

The fight between the papers — which could result in the demise of the P-I if The Times prevails — is likely to be resolved sooner now, she said, and Times and P-I Guild employees may have less in common as a result.

Before the agreement to arbitrate, Mackie said, the court fight threatened to drag on for years. The arbitration agreement calls for a final decision, which cannot be appealed, by May 31, 2007. "It's clear and present and right in front of us," Mackie said.

A King County Superior Court judge has scheduled a hearing Thursday on a Times and P-I motion to put court proceedings on hold until the arbitrator rules. A citizens group is fighting the request.

P-I Publisher Roger Oglesby would not say whether The Hearst Corp., which owns the paper, would have preferred to bargain in league with The Times. "I don't know at the end of the day whether it makes a lot of difference," he said.

The news took Guild leaders by surprise. "I'm not quite certain what it means," said the union's secretary, P-I reporter Mike Lewis. "Everyone is just now finding out about this."

But Times reporter Steve Miletich, the union's vice president, said the split makes sense for the papers. "I thought all along it was going to be really tricky for them to negotiate jointly, given the acrimony over the JOA," he said.

The Guild represents more than 600 news, advertising, circulation, marketing and composing-room workers at The Times and about 150 newsroom employees at the P-I. Under the 23-year-old JOA, the larger Times handles the business and production end for both papers. Each paper maintains separate news and editorial operations.

The Times, which says the JOA no longer makes economic sense, notified Hearst in 2003 it had lost money three years in a row under a formula prescribed by the agreement. That move, under the contract, could lead to termination of the JOA, closure of the P-I or both. Hearst sued, challenging the validity of The Times' claimed losses.

The last time the Guild had contract negotiations with the two papers, in 2000, talks broke down, resulting in a bitter strike that lasted 39 days at the P-I, 49 days at The Times. The Times has said the strike led to losses under the JOA formula in 2000 and 2001.

If nothing else, bargaining separately will present scheduling challenges, said Guild President Yoko Kuramoto-Eidsmoe, a Times desk editor. Negotiation sessions with the two papers together had been scheduled for each Tuesday, Thursday and Friday starting May 16, she said. "If The Times is negotiating with us Tuesday, obviously we can't negotiate with the P-I on Tuesday."

The Times' Mackie said the two newspapers had been bargaining together with the Guild since 1958.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com