St. Louis News Guild Ok's Contract with 'Dispatch'

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With three-quarters of its members casting ballots, the St. Louis Newspaper Guild ended year-long negotiations by voting 132-54 to ratify a five-and-a-half year contract with the St. Louis Post Dispatch that offers less than idyllic terms.

The contract freezes pension contributions and eradicates retiree medical benefits for existing employees, offers a 6 percent cut in wages and requires three unpaid one-week furloughs over the next two-and-a-half years. On a positive note, a provision in the contract calls for a six-month moritorium on staff layoffs and would restore wages by 2.5 percent in each of the pact's last three years provided company revenues increased by at least 2 percent annually during that period.

The daily, founded in 1878, which is currentrly owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, has a daily circulation of approximately 240,000.