Union wants more information from Star Tribune

The Star Tribune
Headquarters of the Star Tribune newspaper in downtown Minneapolis.
MPR Photo/Rick Foy

Union leaders at the Star Tribune met Wednesday afternoon to discuss their response to the paper's push for $20 million in labor cost cuts.

The paper wants the cuts by the middle of January.

Without the reductions, the paper says it may end up in a bankruptcy reorganization. And in bankruptcy, the paper's management could impose wage and other cuts on union workers.

Mike Bucsko, Executive Officer of the union representing Star Tribune journalists, said the unions want more information from the paper.

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"The unions that are part of the inter-plant council decided we were going to, at this stage, just request additional information from the company about questions we have and that's all we're going to do at this point," Bucsko said.

Bucsko said unions represent about 800 of the Star Tribune's roughly 1,400 employees.

Union leaders are scheduled to meet again next week.

Since 2007, the Star Tribune has made $50 million in cuts through attrition, layoffs, buyouts and other cost-cutting measures. But the paper is still struggling with onerous debt payments and steeply declining ad revenue.