Union employees of Gannett’s Honolulu Advertiser will vote next Sunday on a proposed new contract.

Under the terms of the agreement, all employees, including those outside the bargaining unit and management employees, will take a ten percent pay cut through the end of calendar year 2010.

In addition, the company “may” suspend certain holidays and bonus days, including “the employee anniversary holiday and one individual holiday.” Vacation days will not be able to be converted into sick leave days, and the company will can also suspend sick leave bonus days, which are earned by employees who don’t use sick days.

As soon as the Advertiser begins making money again, there will be an immediate partial or full salary restoration, although the agreement provides that a “wage restoration will not be made if the restoration will cause Company expenses to exceed Company revenue.”

The deal also includes a memorandum of agreement changing work rules to allow reporters to take photographs and video, and photographers to write stories.

Under the terms of this agreement, the Advertiser:

…will, on a continuing basis, provide training to allow employees to become proficient and remain proficient with new technology used to provide content for the newspaper and all multimedia platforms used by the Employer, whether presently in use or yet to be developed. Such training will be on the Employer’s time and at the Employer’s expense.

The agreement provides that reporters and photographers currently employed will not be disciplined for their performance of these expanded duties, and negative comments about the quality of reporter’s photos or photographer’s writing cannot be included in performance evaluations.

For current employees,

the “combination ability” shall not be used as a standard of competence, or to discriminate in selection for assignments.

But the agreement seems to open the door to future hires in hybrid job categories in which all areas of performance are subject to evaluation.

The agreement includes a provision that doesn’t stop future layoffs, but does set conditions to be met and makes layoffs subject to good faith bargaining:

The Company will make every practical effort to avoid involuntary layoffs during the term of the extension of this Agreement. In the event that an involuntary reduction in staff is necessary, the Company will meet with the affected union(s) not less than 3 weeks in advance of giving required notice to employees designated for layoff. The Company will bargain in good faith with the union(s) in an effort to find alternatives to an involuntary reduction in staff.

Other parts of the current union contracts are extended through the end of 2010.

Given the current state of the economy and the industry, it doesn’t seem like a bad deal.

Meanwhile, I noted this entry concerning the current economics of the Gannett Blog, which has a goal of $24,000 annual income.

Did you catch this little news story? It seems a deal that leaves Mesa Airlines with rights to use the Aloha Airlines name could be scuttled because Advertiser reporter Rick Daysog was prevented from observing and reporting on the bankruptcy auction.

Bankruptcy law apparently requires a public auction, and throwing Daysog out of the room may have violated that requirement.

Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King has now issued an order to show cause why the sale should not be voided “because it was not a public auction”.

At least one interested party agrees. In a letter filed with the Bankruptcy Court on January 23, 2009, Aloha Securities and Investment Company, Ltd. agreed that the sale “should be declared invalid”. The company is “beneficially owned by the family of the late Hung Wo Ching”, who at one point owned a controlling interest in Aloha.

And to balance off the morning, here’s what dawn was like on the beach in Kaaawa yesterday. It was chilly and clear, a great Hawaii winter morning. Look closely, and you can see one of our friendly morning dogs (and his person) on the beach.