Some 450 members of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild at The Seattle Times ratified two-year contracts in voting this week. The union represents news, advertising, marketing, composing, and circulation employees.

Highlights, according to a blog post on the union's Web site:

  • A 6 percent raise over two years.

  • Changes in employee contributions for health insurance premiums, with some paying more and some less.

Meantime, sources at all levels tell us that news employees are bracing for what everyone anticipates will be a very ugly layoff sometime in the next few months. There could be buyouts, but no one's counting on that and managers are advising even experienced, longtime journalists to have a Plan B, as in "bye."