CHICAGO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A six-member union in Chicago, the last hurdle in the sale of bankrupt Sun-Times Media, is willing to wait for a better deal, a union representative said.
The Chicago Typographical Union No. 16, a throwback in the evolution of newspapers and unions, negotiated lifetime job guarantees in a 1975 contract when the union was 460 members strong, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.
The lifetime job guarantee has survived contract after contract for 3 1/2 decades, even as technology has replaced the original typesetting work.
Now, with the company in bankruptcy, each of the Sun-Times unions except one --1,800 workers minus six holdouts -- have agreed to new contracts to allow the business to be sold to Chicago investors led by businessman Jim Tyree.
The new management's first offer included elimination of job guarantees and a cessation of severance rights, the Tribune said.
The union, six members strong with most of the workers in their 60s, said that wasn't good enough.
"I can't sign a document that gives the company the ability to discharge my people without any assurances. We're not running to vote on this one," said union representative Steve Berman.
