Unions OK Accords, Ending Philadelphia Newspaper Walkout

PHILADELPHIA — The last of nine unions approved new four-year contracts with the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News on Tuesday, ending a walkout that closed down the city’s two major newspapers for 46 days.

Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. said it planned to have both papers, with a combined daily circulation of about 900,000, back on the streets today.

The approval by Teamsters Union drivers and by unions representing editorial employees, typographers and mailers brought an end to the strike by 4,700 workers.

The company estimated that it lost $1 million per day in revenues during the walkout, which began Sept. 7 in a dispute over pay and job security.

Each of the contracts calls for an average increase of $37.50 per week over four years. The money is allocated differently by individual unions to cover varying pay scales.

In Chicago, another strike was averted when the Chicago Sun-Times and the Newspaper Guild agreed on a tentative contract Tuesday calling for a 5% pay raise in each year of a three-year pact.