Since our last update, there have been no major breakthroughs in the negotiations between Chronicle management and the Media Workers Guild. Based on the latest reports from management and the Guild, it seems that the two sides are still quite far apart, even though the deadline on management's 'best' offer is due to expire at midnight on Monday. While the Guild is still at the table, the Pressman's Union has become much more active publicly in response to perceived intimidation on the part of Frank Vega and his chronies Vance International.

Michael Stoll of We Grade the News points out that "Whether or not ongoing labor negotiations lead to a strike at the San Francisco Chronicle, both sides agree that it will soon be a smaller paper." In an update posted Wednesday, he reports that the National Writers Union has asked all members to honor any picket by the Guild. In a 1997 article by Robert Picard and Stephen Lacy in the Newspaper Research Journal, they examine the lessons learned in the Detroit newspaper strike where Frank "Darth" Vega earned his nickname, and their conculsions support Michael Stoll's analysis.

Vega makes it clear in his latest memo that there will be no better offer, and wants Guild members to "know what working conditions and circumstances exist in other major metropolitan newspaper markets." Of course, no other major market has the same cost of living as ours. And so far we have seen no sign of any proposals to reduce the layer upon layer of management at the Chronicle -- in fact, management wants to move Associate Editors, currently non-exempt Guild employees, into the ranks of exempt management positions. This is for a paper with one of the highest ratios of managers to employees.

We hope you like AP wire stories and fluff features by freelance stringers, because no matter what happens, it looks like that's what we're going to end up with.

Update: Kathleen Rhodes issues an update to the Guild. Apparently Frank Vega finally decided to join the negotiations.

Photo posted to IndyBay by Sandra Butler.