Chicago fighting to defuse pension bomb

It hurts to have your pension cut. Trust me on that; I know of what I speak.

In 2009, when Jim Tyree bought the paper, the deal he offered was: the union loses its right to seniority and takes a pay cut, and the company stops funding our pensions.

What made the union vote to swallow that bitter pill was the alternative: If we didn’t accept it, Tyree promised, he wouldn’t buy the paper and it would go out of business. The only question was, is he serious?

After exploring the subject from all angles, the honest answer seemed to be: yes. So we took the deal.

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