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PHILADELPHIA (AFX) - The owner of Philadelphia's two largest daily newspapers expressed doubt Wednesday that an agreement with the papers' largest union could be reached before the current contract expires at midnight Thursday, as editorial employees made preparations to go on strike.
In a memo to employees of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, the newspapers' ownership group said it remained "optimistic" that it would reach agreements by the Thursday deadline with all of its unions, except for the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia.
"I don't think that's a good sign," Stu Bykofsky, a spokesman for the Guild, said.
Philadelphia Media Holdings had sent a similar memo Oct. 30, just before the contract was extended a month.
Jay Devine, a company spokesman, said management wanted to be realistic with employees. However, he noted that there's still one day of talks left. "It could change at any time," Devine said.
The Guild, which represents more than 900 editorial and other workers at the two papers, said members are prepared to strike if an agreement isn't reached by midnight Thursday.
The union has said that if it is close to reaching a deal with management, it would consider extending talks by a few days. But there does not appear to be an appetite among members to drag out talks much longer.
Philadelphia Media Holdings -- an investment group led by Brian Tierney, a former public relations executive -- bought the dailies from McClatchy Co. in June in a deal valued at $562 million.
Last month, Tierney announced that declining ad revenues would require contract concessions and other cost-cutting and that some layoffs were unavoidable.
Bykofsky said about 600 workers have signed up for picketing shifts and that 700 employees turned in strike eligibility forms to ensure they would qualify for benefits during a walkout.
The remaining employees would field other work, including contributing to an online news site at http://www.PhilaPapers.com, which would compete with the newspapers' Web site, http://www.Philly.com.
The union planned to meet with its members Wednesday night for an update on negotiations and to get strike details, if needed. Workers are upset about company proposals to freeze and take over the pension plan and disregard seniority when it comes to layoffs.
The company's memo also said it has reached an agreement on non-economic issues -- such as staffing levels -- with a union representing drivers, building services personnel, roadmen and dispatchers. It now has partial agreements with eight of 10 unions; deals with the editorial workers and workers who assemble the paper haven't been reached.
But management still has to work out deals covering financial issues with all 10 unions.
Joe Lyons, president of the Philadelphia Council of Newspaper Unions, which represents all the unions but the Guild, said Wednesday he did not think a final agreement could be reached by the Thursday night deadline.
Leaders of the nine unions, representing 1,100 workers at the two papers, are meeting Thursday morning to decide what they'll do next. Lyons said they're not ruling out extending contract talks. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
