The number of carriers refusing to deliver the San Jose Mercury News increased Tuesday, even as the paper's publisher offered to raise their base pay by 12 percent and the paper ran ads for replacement carriers.
On Tuesday morning, 557 of the paper's 1,080 carriers did not run their normal home-delivery routes, according to Mercury News publisher Jay Harris. That left 48,500 of the paper's regular 228,700 home subscribers without a paper, he said.
On Monday, 468 carriers did not deliver papers, Harris said.
Worried about a backlash from subscribers, Harris offered carriers a 12 percent base-rate pay raise retroactive to Oct. 1. He also offered a one-time $200 inducement to immediately return.
But with those carrots came a stick: the Mercury News ran want ads for replacement carriers in its Tuesday editions.
"We believe the carriers' concerns are legitimate," Harris said. "However, because my primary responsibilities are preserving the health of the Mercury News as a business ... I am fully committed to returning our carrier force to full strength as quickly as possible."
The strike began Sunday morning and affected deliveries in the San Jose area. Subscribers in San Francisco, the Peninsula, Alameda County, southern Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County were not affected.
The carriers, who are non-union independent contractors rather than newspaper employees, have several key demands -- including a 20 percent pay raise and an earlier start time so many can make it to a second job.
They also are asking the newspaper to handle billing so carriers need not be responsible for chasing those subscribers who don't pay.
Carriers also have expressed concerns that their paychecks don't cover the ever-rising cost of gas.
The proposal Harris floated Tuesday would raise the base monthly pay on a typical route of 250 subscribers from $1,080 a month to $1,210 a month, said Mercury News spokeswoman Patty Wise.
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