First set of deals reached in negotiations

In contract talks today, negotiators for the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild and Journal Sentinel Inc. reached tentative agreement on a number of uncontroversial provisions.

During the second session of bargaining on the next contract, the two sides agreed to keep current contract language governing funeral leave, jury duty leave, employee records, byline rights and health and safety, and banning strikes and lockouts, among others. We also discussed a variety of relatively simple changes to some of the sections dealing with overtime, expense reimbursements, temporary employees, interns, corrections, letters to the editor, the cafeteria and union-management relations.

Negotiators are following the normal pattern of dealing with the easiest issues first and working our way up to the most difficult matters. Three more sessions are set next week, for July 29, 30 and 31.