The Chicago Sun-Times and the union representing its 245-member editorial staff have reached a standoff, though the two plan to open another round of contract talks Friday.
On Monday, the day their existing contract expired, members of Local 71 of the Newspaper Guild voted 148-3 to authorize a strike.
The strike vote was a ”sign that we are simply serious about this,”
said Guild spokesman Daniel Lehmann, who covers religion for the Sun-Times.
Lehmann also claimed the company was stalling by putting off the meeting until Friday.
Sun-Times officials said the union had initially rejected a Wednesday session.
Until a new settlement is reached, Lehmann said the reporters, editors and photographers would ”try to turn up the pressure” by working strictly according to their old contract.
”When our shift is over, we will not accept overtime unless it is for cash (and not compensatory time),” he explained.
The Guild wants a three-year contract with a 6 percent raise in the first year, a 7.5 percent raise the second and a 9 percent raise the third year.
The Sun-Times offered a 42-month contract calling for no raises in the first year and 2 percent raises in pay or benefits at the beginning of two 15- month periods.
”The management negotiating team was disappointed at the Guild`s counterproposal, but we certainly expect to negotiate in good faith and reach a satisfying contract,” said Charles Price, executive vice president of Sun- Times Co.
He said the Sun-Times unit has the third-highest pay scale within the Guild nationally and the highest night differential pay. He said more than 50 percent of its members are paid beyond the scale for their classification.
He added that the company`s offer reflected the depressed economic situation in the U.S. and Midwest.
Lehmann said the union protested the company`s demand that the 2 percent raises in pay or benefits not exceed $20 a week.
The top minimum after five years experience for most of the union`s members is $918 a week, according to Lehmann.
Similarly, the union challenged the company`s proposal to cut the 10 percent night differential for all new workers.
Lehmann said there has never been a strike by the Guild at the Sun-Times. Most of the unions for the newspaper`s 1,300 other workers are bound by contract clauses not to honor the strikes of other, Price said.
