Collective bargaining

Members of UAW Local 2110—which represents twenty-seven staff writers, editorial assistants, listings editors, and sales representatives at the Village Voice—voted to authorize a strike at the nation’s historic alternative-weekly newspaper after their three-year contract expired Monday. “We voted unanimously to set a date for a strike,” said Stephanie Zacharek, the principal film critic at the Voice and a shop steward with the union. The vote came after a thirteen-hour negotiating session failed to bring representatives of Voice Media Group LLC, the parent company of the Voice, and the employees’ bargaining committee to an agreement over health care costs and working conditions at the newspaper. The bargaining committee met Tuesday night to discuss a strike deadline.