Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 25, 2009 at 16:43:27:
Typographical union agrees to concessions required for Sun-Times Media sale
A final group of unionized Sun-Times Media Group workers has agreed to changes in its collective bargaining agreement, removing a remaining obstacle to the bankrupt company's acquisition by a group of investors led by local businessman Jim Tyree.
The Chicago Typographical Union No. 16/Communication Workers of America 14408, which represents six workers who had been assured of lifetime employment, voted Friday to agree to concessions.
Tyree's group demanded givebacks from union and non-union workers as a prerequisite of the transaction, saving the company from liquidation. The argument was that the compensation and work-rule concessions were necessary if the parent of the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban sister publications was to be economically viable going forward.
"Although, reaching the agreement took longer that the other 16 union bargaining units, the interests of both parties were far more complicated, weighing the new company’s continued rights for full work flexibility, against the workers rights to continued employment guarantees," the union said in a statement. "An honest desire on the part of both parties, to maintain the balance of fairness, fashioned an agreement, acceptable to the Union’s membership and produced the final agreement, required for closing the sale."
Posted at 09:22:07 AM by Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune