PROVIDENCE -- The membership of The Providence Journal's largest union yesterday overwhelmingly approved a new eight-year contract after nearly four years of labor strife at the newspaper.
Members voted 238 to 15 in favor of the contract offer presented earlier this week to the Providence Newspaper Guild.
The agreement covers the past four years during which the union has been without a contract and runs through the next four years, expiring on Dec. 31, 2007.
The Providence Newspaper Guild, part of the Newspaper Guild and the Communications Workers of America, represents more than 400 reporters, photographers, copy editors, advertising employees, clerks and others.
Howard G. Sutton, publisher of The Providence Journal and chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Providence Journal Co., welcomed the outcome of the vote.
"We are pleased by the ratification vote and congratulate the Guild executive committee, administrator and both negotiating committees," Sutton said in a statement last night.
"This agreement will allow all of us to continue our focus on maintaining The Providence Journal as the premier news and information provider and advertising vehicle for Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts."
John Hill, president of the Providence Newspaper Guild AFL-CIO, Local 31401, said after the votes were counted last night, "We worked hard for this, not just today, but for four years. We had a membership that was really united against an effort initially, we believe, to put us out of business as a union."
He attributed the four-year contract standoff to "deeper labor problems" at the newspaper, but said there are signs of improvement.
"We hope this indicates the climate may be changing," Hill said.
Under the contract, Guild members will receive retroactive raises of 3 percent for 2001 and 6 percent for 2003. There are no raises for years 2000 and 2002.
Over the next four years, union members will receive annual raises of at least 1.5 percent and no less than the raises granted to other company employees. Additionally, over the course of the next four years the total percentage increases must add up to at least 8 percent.
The agreement lifts the annual salary for a reporter with five years of experience to $56,125 as of Jan. 1, 2003.
In addition to the retroactive pay, all regular employees who work at least 22.5 hours a week will each receive a one-time signing bonus of $1,000. Those who work less than 22.5 hours weekly or are not regularly scheduled employees will each receive a $500 bonus.
The retroactive pay and bonuses will be paid as lump sums.
Among other provisions, the contract:
Maintains the current medical and dental insurance contribution limit for Guild workers at 15 percent.
Offers improved retirement plan options.
Provides free parking at company-owned lots in downtown Providence with a maximum of 150 spaces allocated for employees working at least 22.5 hours a week.
Increases company life insurance coverage to two times base salary for those working at least 22.5 hours a week.
Implementation of the new contract is contingent on the National Labor Relations Board agreeing to accept the terms as settlement of 27 labor law violations an NLRB administrative law judge found the Journal had committed.
Under the settlement, the company does not admit any violations, and the two sides agree not to raise the NLRB findings in any future legal proceedings.
The NLRB had brought the charges in response to union complaints as relations between the newspaper's management and the Guild deteriorated.
The Guild's last contract expired on Dec. 31, 1999. Members rejected an initial offer from the company in February 2000 by a wide margin. Then this past June, members turned down another offer with 160 voting against it and 109 in favor.
After the June vote, negotiators for the two sides had not met until Tuesday, when the newspaper's management made a new offer that proposed compromises on several key points.
Hill, the Guild president, attributed the breakthrough to stepped-up action over the last six months that included regular picketing, the leafleting of major advertisers and a recent radio campaign.
The Guild's executive committee had voted 9 to 1 to schedule yesterday's vote and recommended members approve the new proposal. Eighty-seven percent of the 292 union members eligible to vote cast ballots yesterday.
The Providence Journal Co. is a subsidiary of Belo Corp. of Dallas.
