3 Bay Area Papers Grant 15% Pay Hike

A tentative agreement reached between negotiators for three big Bay Area newspapers and 10 unions will provide workers with a 15% increase spread over 43 months, the San Jose Mercury News reported in its editions today.

Negotiators reached agreement on key economic issues in a session that began Friday and continued into the early morning hours Saturday, averting a strike by 5,000 workers at the Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner.

Both management and union representatives have declined to comment on terms of the tentative agreement.

Still unresolved were a number of other issues, including work rules and contract language, negotiators said late Friday. Union members are expected to vote on the agreement in the next several weeks.

The unions had asked in their original proposal for a 10% raise during each year of the contract. Management offered a wage freeze for the first 18 months of the contract, followed by an increase of about $25 a week for the remaining 18 months.

Salaries for reporters and photographers at the three newspapers range from $433 to $711 a week. The three papers have a combined daily circulation of about 950,000.