Press operators approve contract with newspapers

The workers who operate the presses for The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News voted Tuesday to accept a contract negotiated with the prospective new owners of the papers.

The pressmen, who had previously rejected a contract proposal, voted 48-28 to approve the latest offer. Their vote follows the approval of a new contract by the company's operating engineers last week.

The decisions mean that 14 of the company's 16 unions now have reached contracts with Philadelphia Media Network Inc., a collection of 16 financial institutions that purchased the two newspapers and the website Philly.com at bankruptcy auction in April.

Unions representing the company's machinists and drivers still do not have contracts.

Philadelphia Media Network has a deadline of September 14 to reach settlements with the unions. That is the current closing date, set by the bankruptcy judge, for the media firm's emergence from bankruptcy and formal sale.

The company had been set to close on the deal Aug. 31, but was granted a two-week extension after it was unable to settle contracts with all of its unions.

Philadelphia Media Network's purchase agreement permits it to walk away from the deal if it is unable to negotiate contracts with its unions.

Philadelphia Media Network, whose owners include financial companies Angelo, Gordon & Co., Alden Global Capital and Credit Suisse, paid $139 million to win the bankruptcy auction and wrest ownership from the local group Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C.