Unionized employees at The Honolulu Advertiser today overwhelmingly voted to authorize their unions to call for a strike, a move that is intended to give the workers leverage in their negotiations with the company.

The vote does not mean that a strike is imminent, but it does set in motion preparations by the six unions that represent about 600 Advertiser workers for a strike. Before a strike can occur, either management or the unions will have to give a 30-day notice to cancel the existing contract.

Wayne Cahill, chief administrator of the Hawai'i Newspaper Guild, one of the six unions, said the Guild would need approval from its parent group, the Communications Workers of America, before it can go on strike.

The newspaper's employees met this afternoon at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union hall and voted 358-17 to authorize a strike. The unions collectively are negotiating as the Hawai'i Newspaper and Printing Trades Council.

Cahill said the vote should send a message to the company that the workers are united in their effort to reach a contract agreement.

"The purpose of the strike authorization vote is to tell the company if they don't start bargaining with us, they're going to have people on the street," Cahill said. "These people have said loud and clear today that they're not going to accept the kind of proposal that the company put out as the final proposal."

Lee Webber, Advertiser president and publisher, said in a statement:

"We have been working very sincerely with Mr. Cahill and the Council and will continue to do so. Our belief is that we can come to an agreement. The proposal we submitted was reasonable given the current and future economic conditions facing the newspaper industry, our state and the nation."

The employees have been working under a contract extension since the old contract expired last June.

The two sides began negotiating last May and the major sticking points are wages and medical benefits.

The company has proposed a two-year contract that calls for a 1 percent pay raise, a 1.5 percent bonus, and increases in employees' contributions to their health plans. The proposed deal would expire on March 1, 2009.

The unions have asked for 3 percent raises in each year of the contract and that there be no changes to the employees' HMSA medical plans.

The Advertiser's offer was presented on Jan. 25 and the company gave the unions 30 days to ratify the agreement or it would implement the medical plan changes. The two sides disagree on whether this could legally be done.