AP via Editor & Publisher:
Albany 'Times Union' Cancels Union Contract Published: April 10, 2009 3:06 PM ET
ALBANY, N.Y. The Times Union of Albany has canceled a union labor agreement as it tries to reduce costs.
The collective-bargaining agreement with The Albany Newspaper Guild covers about 240 of the newspaper's 450 employees, including reporters. The Hearst Corp.-owned newspaper announced the cancellation Thursday after negotiations failed to produce agreement on a new labor contract to replace one that expired in August.
The cancellation does not affect wage and job-protection provisions. But it does remove mandatory arbitration in disputes, mandatory deduction of union dues from employees' paychecks and a no-strike, no-lockout clause.
"We took this step only after making every effort to reach an agreement at the bargaining table," George R. Hearst III, the newspaper's publisher and chief executive, said in full-page letter addressed to "our loyal readers and advertisers" in Friday's edition.
Key contract issues are whether the newspaper can outsource some jobs or lay off workers outside current seniority rules. .........(more)
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