The company says the changes are necessary to cut labor costs, reverse the newspaper's financial losses and forestall the possibility of an asset sale. Despite the major changes proposed, the company is still hoping for an early resolution, and several bargaining dates have been scheduled over the next two weeks.

SFist talked to a friend who has connections on both sides of the fence, and we quote the following:

I'll offer the assessment that the Chron is failing to address the real problem, which is a vast surplus of managers who do little or nothing, many of whom have company cars and an additional one or two laptops for home use -- not that they ever bother to work remotely, of course.

But, instead, they retain and continue to overperk managers, and f**k over the union folks, who are the only ones doing any real work.

Several bargaining dates are scheduled in the coming weeks. SFist is especially interested in what conclusions are reached by the "Guild-hired financial expert" who will be allowed to crack open the Chron's books to see if management's claims of pending insolvency are accurate. But management has also proposed a confidentiality agreement to cover the discussions, which means we may never find out the results. In the mean time, have yourself a nervous laugh over the the proposed changes to the contract after the jump.