The largest union representing workers at Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers has voted overwhelmingly to accept wage concessions totaling about 6 percent.
The Newspaper Guild voted 287-38 Tuesday night to accept the package that the lead negotiator for the new owners says is needed to put the newspapers on sound financial footing coming out of
bankruptcy.
The three-year contract would protect unionized reporters, editors and advertising staff at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News from layoffs for the next year but includes a 2 percent cut in base pay and two weeks of unpaid furlough.
The Guild, which has some 515 full and part-time members, was the first of the papers' 14 bargaining units to agree on contract terms. Leaders of smaller unions have tentatively agreed to similar wage reductions, but the Teamsters Local 628, representing 435 drivers, building-service and security personnel, has balked at a proposed change in pension benefits.
