Looks like the Seattle Times is going to bargain separately from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer during upcoming contract negotiations with the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild.

This is big news for members of the guild (which represents about 800 reporters, photographers, artists, ad salespeople, and circulation workers at the two papers). In the past, union members from the Times and P-I have negotiated together on one side of the bargaining table, while corporate representatives from the two papers have sat on the other side of the table, also negotiating together.

No more. With the two papers heading into arbitration to end their long-running legal battle, the Times has decided to bargain alone. An email from Times management is in the jump…

From: Alayne Fardella

Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 1:19 PM

To: Direct Reports

Cc: SOC

Subject: Quick Labor Update

Good afternoon. As we have done in the past, we'll continue to send updates to you as we proceed through the Guild negotiations process. A few weeks ago, we sent you an email that described our starting date for negotiation, the anticipated schedule of meetings, and the agreement to bargain in a coordinated manner with the P-I.

With the recent announcement of the JOA arbitration agreement with Hearst, we believe it to be in the best interests of our employees to separate our bargaining schedule from that of the P-I. We have different and separate contracts.

Chris and I are scheduled to meet with the Guild and CWA this week and will explore whether this procedural change will have any impact on our negotiations schedule. Hopefully, this will not change our starting date of May 16, since we have three days a week set aside for negotiations.

Please forward this to your managers and Guild employees. We'll keep you updated! If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask your department head, Chris Biencourt, or me.

Thanx,

Alayne