I understand that, physically, the P-I is little more than a large newsroom. And as is usually the case, reporters at both papers maintain a vigorous competition with each other. The only story I've written about the situation myself was in early November when the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild received strike authorization from the King County Labor Council. If they didn't get a contract they liked by Thanksgiving, the union said, they'd walk. The union was clearly trying to use the leverage of putting a dent in the lucrative holiday advetising season to pressure management to make concessions.
Money is the major issue.
The union says their workers are losing ground to the rapidly-rising cost of living in the burgeoning Seattle area. Prices for housing and other basic needs have skyrocketed in recent years as the Puget Sound Region has become Silicon Valley North. But management says the union is fudging its figures. They maintain their employees earn salaries on a par with similarly-situated papers in other cities. Terry Coughlin, a Times spokeswoman, says the base contract salary rates are misleading, since merit raises allow nearly all employees to make more than the contract minimum.