Fresno Bee Ratifes New Contract

The good news: everyone at the Bee who was awarded a raise between January and June of this year and hadn’t yet gotten the extra money will be paid retroactively.

For the rest of 2011, there will be a 2 percent merit pool (so that individuals can receive raises, or not, from that pool).

The newspaper, which is owned by McClatchy, retained the right to implement one week of furloughs in 2011, 2012, and 2013, if needed; the company also cut maximum severance from 40 weeks to 26 and reserved its right to require reporters to shoot photos or otherwise assign staff to duties “outside of their core skill set.”