Newspaper Guild and Sun of Baltimore reach agreement

Posted by Ben Thalman on June 15, 2007 at 10:15 AM

An agreement between The Sun of Baltimore and the Newspaper Guild has been reached. In return for the agreement to take photos, the union received a change in the proposed raise structure that will keep a current mix of automatic raises and merit pay increases, as opposed to a shift to all-merit pay increases, also, reporters will receive training before they are required to take photos.

In an earlier article Editor & Publisher reported on the deal: “The new tentative deal alters that structure to allow automatic raises each year. In the latest proposal, members would receive $10 per week raises each year automatically, with a $10 contribution per member to a merit raise pool the first year, $12 per member the second year, and $15 per member each of the last two years. Each member also will receive a $750 bonus the first year.”

Publisher and CEO of The Sun, Tim Ryan, discussed the agreement: “Guild members have shown that they recognize the serious ongoing challenges we are facing in our industry. Tonight they ratified a contract that gives us some important flexibility to meet the changing expectations of our readers and advertisers and acknowledges our need to continue to encourage superior employee performance.”

Likewise, the president of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, Bill Salganik, seems to be positive about the deal: “The significant change is that there are real raises for everybody every year and some real protections for people trying to do the work of reporter and photographer.”

Source: Editor & Publisher