About 150 striking newspaper employees in Youngstown, Ohio, have been told to report to work tomorrow or permanent replacements will begin taking their jobs.

Mark Brown, general manager of The Vindicator newspaper, said he imposed the deadline because of "excruciatingly slow" negotiations with the union representing newsroom, circulation and classified advertising employees.

"It's sad that it's come to this," Brown said yesterday. "But this is the ninth month of the strike, and we need to get back on track."

He has been producing the 64,000-circulation daily with managers, temporary workers, college interns and reporters borrowed from other newspapers, notably the Newhouse chain.

Anthony Markota, president of Local 34011 of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, said his union will vote tonight on whether to accept The Vindicator's latest contract proposal. Union leaders are recommending that members reject the three-year offer, which includes raises and bonuses totaling 6 percent.

"I think this is a pretty solid group that will vote 'no,' " Markota said of his membership.

If unionists turn down the offer, they would remain on strike, even as they are replaced by new full-time workers.

Brown said that, under federal law, he cannot fire the strikers. Instead, they would go on a list for rehiring if vacancies occurred.

New full-time employees at The Vindicator would receive the same pay that union members did. The scale ranges from $6.25 to $17.83 an hour.

The strike began Nov. 16 with 179 unionized workers on the picket line. Since then, 22 have crossed picket lines to return to The Vindicator.

A handful of others resigned from the union to take jobs elsewhere.

Brown said he initiated three marathon bargaining sessions last week in hopes of settling the strike, only to be blindsided by unrealistic union demands.

He said Markota's negotiating team put forth a new proposal calling for pay raises of 15 to 30 percent, depending on job classification.

"It showed me they weren't serious about getting an agreement," Brown said.

He said the family-owned Vindicator has lost money for seven consecutive years, a victim of Youngstown's declining population and loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Markota conceded that he put forth a proposal seeking at least 15 percent in pay raises. He said his membership is angry after five years of wage freezes. Union members also were charged $22 a week for health insurance coverage while managers received full coverage at The Vindicator's expense, Markota said.

Brown, Markota said, could have countered the union's wage proposal to keep the negotiations alive, but did not.

Even without a counterproposal from the company, the union yesterday chopped its wage and bonus request to 8 percent over three years. In effect, the union was negotiating with itself. The Vindicator's 6 percent wage offer has been on the table for most of the year, and Brown said he will not increase it.

Wages, in Markota's view, are not the most contentious issue to be resolved. He said Vindicator managers often perform union work in the newsroom. So the union, he said, wants a contract provision to prevent layoffs.

During bargaining sessions, the two sides reached agreement on a couple of long-standing issues. One would allow 14 circulation department employees to continue driving company cars. Another would let one management employee write two or more political columns each week. The writer formerly was a union member, so there was some debate over whether his column infringed on union work.

Top-scale reporters and copy editors made $713 a week at The Vindicator. They are receiving $300 a week in strike pay, meaning they have lost some $15,000 during the strike.

But, Brown said, other strikers have had little incentive to push for a contract settlement. He said 60 percent of the union members are making as much in strike pay as they were at The Vindicator.