N.Y. Post Is Reborn (Sort of) as Unions Agree on Cutbacks

The never-say-die New York Post staggered back to life Monday after unions agreed to $6.2 million in reduced operating costs.

Journalists, who still had not agreed on a new contract, and production workers rushed back and worked frantically to prepare a Tuesday edition, the first since publisher Rupert Murdoch locked the doors Friday.

The decision to publish came after the 10 production unions agreed to the reduced costs and the Newspaper Guild, which represents 290 editorial, advertising and circulation employees, agreed to return to work while continuing to negotiate a new contract. In all, 725 people work at the Post.

The Post has been operating in bankruptcy, and Murdoch, who took over the paper in March, demanded the concessions, saying he had been losing $300,000 a week.

“Murdoch’s the last game in town,” said George McDonald, head of the Allied Printing Trades Council, an umbrella group of 11 newspaper unions. “If we lose him, we lose the Post.”

Murdoch’s News America Publishing Corp. said it would now proceed with negotiations to formally buy the paper.

Negotiations with the Guild focused on two issues: Murdoch’s demand that the union grant him powers to reshape the staff through firings and rehirings, and his refusal to honor existing severance obligations.