The State - News from Oct. 26, 1986

Negotiators representing 5,000 union employees at the three major newspapers in San Francisco and San Jose have set next Friday as the deadline for a strike if further talks do not produce agreement on a new contract. Union negotiators said two days of meetings this week failed to produce any move toward such an agreement so they set a deadline of 4:59 p.m. Friday. Negotiators representing nine unions that include most of the workers at the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and the San Jose Mercury News said talks are stalled over the issue of salaries. The unions are asking for a 15% wage increase for editorial employees, the largest category for the three papers. Management negotiators proposed freezing wages at current levels for the next 18 months.