enlarge 2008 Press Herald file

Richard Connor, leader of the group planning to buy the Blethen Maine Newspapers, says he would develop a new culture within the company.

Employees at Maine's largest newspaper will learn today whether its biggest union has approved wage concessions that will allow an investment group led by Bangor native Richard Connor to buy Blethen Maine Newspapers.

The Portland Newspaper Guild will conclude voting at 3 p.m. today on a new contract that includes a 10 percent pay cut, a two-year wage freeze and a suspension of both 401(k) and pension contributions.

In exchange, company employees would receive 15 percent of any increase in the company's value in the form of an employee stock ownership plan. They also would get a say in how the company is run through seats on a board of directors.

Blethen Maine Newspapers is owned by the Seattle Times Co., which is trying to streamline operations and preserve its Washington state newspapers. It put the Maine properties up for sale in March 2008.

The guild represents more than 300 workers at Blethen Maine's flagship property, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, as well as nearly 20 editorial workers at the Morning Sentinel in Waterville.

Blethen Maine is the state's largest media company. It also includes the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the MaineToday division, which operates several Web sites, the Coastal Journal in Bath and the Maine Switch.

Guild members said Connor told them at a closed-door meeting Thursday that he has secured bank financing as well as private equity backing for the purchase.

Afterward, Connor explained that he plans to develop a company culture that involves taking risks, making swift decisions, trusting customers and employees, adopting aggressive sales techniques, and relying more on consensus and less on hierarchy.

Connor said his newspaper in Pennsylvania, the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, has the fourth-fastest readership growth in the country when print and online versions are combined, and he expects an increase of more than 4,500 in circulation of its Sunday newspaper.

Connor said his purchase of the Maine properties hinges on the guild vote.

"We have got to have this one," he said.

The Graphic Communications Union representing pressmen also is voting today on a new contract, with similar wage provisions.

The Waterville unit of the guild is scheduled to vote on a new contract next week, and Connor is in negotiations with the Communications Workers of America unit representing about 85 workers at the Kennebec Journal.

The guild's leadership unanimously endorsed the contract being voted on by its members. It also calls for suspending a 2 percent raise that would have gone into effect Monday.

"We see this offer, this contract, as good news," said Greg Kesich, the guild's vice president. "It's a chance to start over – a chance to save jobs and save a newspaper at a time when other newspapers are going out of business and other unions are giving up more."

Bernie Lunzer, president of the national Newspaper Guild, urged Maine members via an e-mail to support the plan.

"The industry is in a dire situation. But you have the chance to keep your properties operating, and gain real input into the ongoing business," Lunzer said.

Robert Bickler, president and chief executive officer of Blethen Maine Newspapers, said Thursday that if the sale to Connor's group does not go through, the company would pursue its position in court that it can sell the newspapers in an asset sale – meaning without its union contracts.

It also would have to cut costs to improve its cash flow so it can meet its debt obligations and would even entertain the idea of bankruptcy.

"Clearly, the business model is going to have to change one way or another," he said.

Nationally, newspapers are struggling, largely a result of classified advertising moving to the Internet and retail advertising falling off in the recession.

"It's very much part of the scene this year for...