6-member union stalls deal for Sun-Times Media Group

Fellow U of I alumni Lynne Stiefel's has the honor of leading fellow Guild members through this gauntlet.

Let's refresh our friendship & keep the Chicago Sun Times afloat in choppy financial waters, fellow Windy Citizens.

Holy crap.

Their trump card is one of those relic union contracts that give members rights that seem mind-boggling in this day and age. In 1975, when the union had 460 members at the Sun-Times and was far stronger, the CTU managed to negotiate lifetime job guarantees that subsequently kept some members on the payroll well into their 80s, Berman said.

At the time, Sun-Times management saw more value in being able to move union members around between jobs than in being able to lay them off. The union happily agreed, given that the days of printing the newspaper using lead "hot type" were gone and members saw desktop publishing gradually replacing their typesetting work altogether.

So these 6 guys are guaranteed jobs for life if they don't concede to the new owners and everyone else loses their jobs?

They'll lose their jobs, too if the S-T goes under. If one party in a contract ceases to exist, the contract wouldn't mean a whole lot would it?

Your question is whether the new owners have any obligation to this six union members? Watch some amazing things happen to ensure that the presses continue to run @ the Chicago Sun Times!

I hope they lose their jobs. They're typesetters...and it's 2009 fer Christ's sake. Why should they be paying people whose skills they no longer need?

Union workers need not "lose their jobs," alohagirl. Perform new jobs, perhaps. Flexibility is the key to the future of the Chicago Sun Times. Millions of non-union, private sector workers are expected to do the same every day.