Union Approves Chronicle Cuts

The Northern California Media Workers Guild, the San Francisco Chronicle’s largest employees union, has approved a tentative labor agreement that allows layoffs without regard to seniority.

The union’s members passed the agreement 10-1. The union represents 500 editorial, advertising and circulation workers.

The concessions also include less vacation time, and longer work weeks for the same wage.

The company will cut about 150 guild jobs. The newspaper’s management had threatened to lay off 225.

The Chronicle’s owner, Hearst Corporation, had said it would shut down the 144-year-old daily if the paper’s union workforce did not agree to restructuing their contracts.