Union approves cutting 90 Chronicle driver jobs

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/20/BAD41757RH.DTL

Chronicle Staff Report

Monday, April 20, 2009

The union representing Chronicle delivery truck drivers ratified an agreement Sunday that will allow the newspaper to cut between 90 and 100 driver positions.



The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 853 voted 179-10 in favor of a contract that will reduce the number of drivers to about 130, according to Rome Aloise, secretary-treasurer of Local 853.

Aloise said the company had originally proposed laying off all drivers who deliver the newspaper directly to homes. But Sunday's agreement allows union drivers to keep delivering papers to San Francisco homes. Outside the city, The Chronicle is now permitted to hire subcontractors to make home deliveries.

"You'll still see Chronicle trucks being driven around (San Francisco) by Chronicle employees," Aloise said after the vote.

Departing Teamsters workers will receive two weeks of severance pay for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 52 weeks.

Hearst Corp., the private New York company that owns The Chronicle, said in late February that it would sell or close the 144-year-old newspaper if it couldn't quickly achieve significant savings.

FULL story at link.