Times, union reach tentative pact

The Seattle Times and the largest union at the newspaper reached tentative agreement Wednesday on a new, two-year contract that calls for no across-the-board wage increases.

Liz Brown, the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild's administrative officer, said the union's nine-member negotiating committee was "strongly divided" on the proposal, and some might not recommend members ratify it.

A vote has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 13 and 14, she said.

"It's a very difficult time to negotiate," Brown said. "The company says it's losing money."

Times Senior Vice President Alayne Fardella said in an e-mail to employees announcing the tentative agreement that "the economic hardship of our situation is undeniable."

During negotiations, The Times agreed to let a Guild economist review some company financial records. The Guild said those documents confirmed that the paper, when one-time gains from property sales are excluded, had lost millions from 2000 to 2005.

Times news researcher Gene Balk, the Guild's unit chairman, said the union hopes to negotiate a better contract in 2008.

Next year, an arbitrator is expected to issue a final ruling on a long-running legal dispute between The Times and The Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, that Times executives have said is key to the paper's long-term profitability.

The Times and P-I are bound by a 23-year-old joint-operating agreement (JOA) under which they maintain separate news and editorial operations while The Times handles the business functions for both.

The Times now says the burden of publishing the smaller P-I threatens The Times' economic viability. It is seeking to terminate the JOA or close the P-I, or both. Hearst has said the P-I could not survive outside the JOA.

The proposed contract covers about 610 news, advertising, circulation and marketing employees. The Guild still is negotiating with The Times on a separate contract covering 21 composing-room workers, but Brown said the union hoped to wrap that up soon.

The Guild also represents about 140 newsroom workers at the P-I who last month approved a two-year contract calling for minimum wage increases of $20 a week this year and $25 in 2007.

"The two papers are in very different situations," Balk said. "The employees at the P-I have leverage that we don't."

Guild negotiators at the P-I had warned that, without wage increases and other contract improvements, the paper could face an employee exodus before the arbitration concludes.

Hearst also is much larger and has deeper pockets than The Times.

The Times-Hearst legal fight dates to April 2003, when The Times triggered an escape clause in the JOA by notifying Hearst it had lost money, under a formula spelled out in the contract, in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Under the JOA, that three-year "loss notice" required Hearst to negotiate a date to close the P-I within 18 months.

Hearst challenged the validity of The Times' losses in court. The Times accused Hearst of using the P-I to bleed The Times into insolvency and force its majority owners, the local Blethen family, to sell.

The Times has since notified Hearst it also lost money under the JOA in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

In March, the papers agreed to put court proceedings on hold and let arbitrator Larry Jordan decide whether The Times' losses are legitimate. Both companies have agreed there will be no appeal.

While expressing disappointment with the tentative union contract, Balk and Brown said it contains improved sick-leave language.

The agreement would replace a six-year contract that expired in July. It was negotiated after the Guild struck The Times for seven weeks in 2000 and 2001.

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