Blade, unions reach tentative agreements
5/23/2007The Blade and seven of its eight unions reached tentative agreements early this morning. Details are not being released, pending ratification votes.
Voting is expected to occur this week. If the proposed contracts are approved, it would end more than a year of negotiations, would end the lockout of 215 craft union members, and would result in the dismissal of all legal disputes. The Toledo Council of Newspaper Unions said in a statement it would end its boycott campaign against The Blade.
Most of the prior union contracts were to have expired March 21, 2006. One Blade union, representing electricians, reached a contract settlement last summer. The newspaper has 525 full-time and part-time union workers, plus 70 management personnel.
Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com.