Deal reached on Guild jurisdiction

Negotiators for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have agreed to reduce the management ranks by two positions.

Retroactive to July 1, the vacant post of deputy features editor was removed from the list of jobs excluded from Guild contract protection. That brought the number of excluded jobs down to 54, not counting Washington Bureau employees and newsroom interns. By Jan. 1, the number will drop to 53, when the newspaper removes another job from the exclusion list. That is currently scheduled to be the vacant position of deputy managing editor, but another job could be substituted if a deputy managing editor is named before then.

The Guild contract called for a decrease of three excluded positions by Jan. 1 of this year, followed by negotiations this summer on further reductions. Management previously dropped the positions of urban life editor, News Information Center manager and database editor from the exclusions list. All three jobs remain vacant.