Workers Ratify Contract at El Diario Newspaper

A three-year contract at El Diario newspaper in Brooklyn, N.Y. was ratified by Newspaper Guild of New York, TNG-CWA Local 31003 members last week. Approved by a two-to-one margin, the agreement ends seven months of tense negotiations at the newspaper, the nation's oldest Spanish-language daily.

The agreement covers journalists, technicians and other news professionals at the newspaper, a subsidiary of privately held ImpreMedia LLC. Seventeen workers who were facing layoffs, won enhanced severance packages in the contract.

The agreement calls for salary increases of up to 1.5 percent, $1,000 in bonus payments over the term of the contract, pre-tax contributions for medical insurance, a reduction in health care contribution costs, stronger work rules for job assignments, and enhanced disability and sick leave. Management also agreed to a one-year ban on layoffs.

The contract significantly improves on management's original proposals that would have slashed benefits and wages, and eliminated job security through unilateral subcontracting and dismissals.

"This agreement unfortunately reflects the poor financial health of ImpreMedia, and the sector as a whole," said TNG-CWA Local 31003 President Bill O'Meara. "We are eager to move on and support our members' work producing the finest Spanish-language newspaper in the nation."