By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The Post-Dispatch and the union representing 600 of its workers say they've reached a tentative contract agreement.
The five-year deal includes pay raises but also requires many workers to pay more health-care costs.
Reporter Tim O'Neill, the Newspaper Guild President, calls the deal a fair resolution to a long negotiating process.
"Obviously there are things we don't like but there are things we do," O'Neill said Thursday morning. "The money is improved from the offer we rejected four months ago.
"There are a number of things, in effect, restored to the contract that would not have been included in the offer we rejected and that's a lot of why we rejected it, frankly."
Union members overwhelmingly rejected the last contract proposal in February. Workers will vote on this proposal on June 6.
The contract would cover editorial, advertising, circulation and support workers at the newspaper.
The Guild says its bargaining committee voted 9-7 to recommend that members approve the contract.