Portland papers reach tentative contract deal

PORTLAND – The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and the Portland Newspaper Guild have reached a tentative deal on a new contract.

The tentative deal reached Saturday would be the guild’s first contract since Guy Gannett Communications sold the newspaper to The Seattle Times Co. in the fall of 1998.

The 81/2-year contract would be retroactive to Dec. 1, 1998, when the last one expired. Workers would receive 3.5 percent raises every 14 months through June 2002, and 3 percent raises each year for the following five years.

The agreement calls for workers’ contributions to health insurance premiums to increase from 10 percent to 20 percent over the next four years.

Guild members are to vote on the contract in early November. The guild represents 300 workers in the editorial, circulation, advertising, marketing and janitorial departments. Pressroom and composing department workers have their own unions.