Retirees notch win against Black Press

Gina White has never met Canadian newspaper publisher David Black. But if she ever does, she has a few things she’d like to say to him. The 63-year-old and her husband, David, 78, are part of a small group of elderly retirees from the Akron Beacon Journal who are now locked in a legal battle with Mr. Black, who bought the Ohio paper in 2006 through his Victoria-based company, Black Press Ltd. Soon after, the company slashed health benefits for retired workers. “I would say this was just an awful thing to do to retired people,” Ms. White said from her home in Venice, Fla. “We didn’t have a problem until Black took over.” The dispute highlights an issue of growing importance to corporations and to aging workers across North America: how to pay for health benefits and retirement schemes that were crafted in more prosperous times, often decades earlier. The problem is a pressing one for retirees, employees and executives in once-thriving industries – like newspaper publishing – that are now facing a much tougher economic outlook. The outcome of this case has the potential to cost millions for Black Press, a growing media enterprise with more than 150 publications across Canada and the U.S. But more importantly, the outcome could affect the types of offers companies make when they draw up early retirement packages.