Philly.com, April 11

Judge extends order on merger of Philly newspaper pensions

The Associated Press

A U.S. district court judge extended his temporary restraining order on the merger of two pensions at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

Judge Berle Schiller, who issued the ruling late Thursday, April 10, extended the order until May 23. It would not unravel the pensions' merger, but would stop the papers' owner from commingling their assets.

The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia is suing Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, a unit of Philadelphia Media Holdings, for merging two pensions without its consent. The union said merging a fully funded pension into a severely underfunded pension would not be in the best interests of pension beneficiaries.

The company said it has the right to do so because the deadline for the Guild pension to merge with another partner has passed. Management also said benefit payouts will not change. But if the merger is undone, the company said it would have to pony up at least $8 million to shore up the underfunded plan under new pension rules, which could lead to layoffs.

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