MediaNews negotiators are proposing to reduce the salaries of Guild members by 15 percent under the collective bargaining agreement now being negotiated, according to the Guild.

The following is from the Guild’s bargaining bulletin:

The salary of veteran reporters, editors and advertising sales people earning the current scale of $1,279.51 a week would find their pay cut $383.86 every paycheck, issued every other week. The scale for experienced copy clerks, now at $598.53 a week, would be reduced $179.56 per pay check.

Employees earning above scale — say, the hypothetical reporter earning $80,000 — would find their paychecks cut $461.54 each pay period, under the company proposal.

By the way, in 2007, chief executive and vice chairman Dean Singleton received compensation of $1.83 million.

The harsh cuts proposed by the company [on Jan. 21] did not end there.

Advertising sales representatives would have their guaranteed salaries cut even further, and would be expected to earn the rest from increased commissions.

The clause in the contract protecting the pay increases of employees earning more than scale would be wiped out, opening the door for the company to erase any merit increases that employees had earned raising their salaries above scale.

Shift differentials for specialized jobs, and night differentials would be abolished.

And vacation pay would be reduced — employees would not get three weeks of vacation until after three years of service, and would not earn a fourth week until after 10 years. Employees would not, under the company proposal, ever enjoy five weeks off. …

Guild negotiators — Sylvia Ulloa of the newsroom, local president; Bill Russell of advertising; Rick Tulsky of the newsroom, as well as Darren Carroll of The Newspaper Guild-CWA and administrative staff members Luther Jackson and Suzanne Arnaud — told the company they need time to fashion a response. …

Representing the Mercury News were Andy Huntington and Jim Janiga.