Drivers’ union to vote on cost-cutting Daily News contract

Drivers on Friday are voting on whether to accept a new five-year contract at the Daily News — and the vote is too close to call, observers said.

The polls open at 9 a.m. at a Knights of Columbus hall in Bayonne, NJ, not far from the News’ Jersey City printing plant.

All 800-plus drivers belonging to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union — which serves The Post, the New York Times, the News and other metro area papers — can vote even though the pact affects only the 230 or so full-time drivers working Daily News routes.

Over the course of the proposed pact, owner Mort Zuckerman will be allowed to chop 58 of the current 106 routes. Most of the cuts are expected to come from suburban areas.

A big source of discomfort to drivers is the proposed pact’s freezing of union pensions — and Zuckerman’s ability to replace further pension contributions with only a $2,000 annual contribution to a 401(k) plan.

The contract will offer 34 buyouts in the first year, and replace the current contract that expires on March 30, 2017, with a new contract that goes into effect immediately and stretches until Jan. 1, 2021.

News CEO William Holiber threatened drivers that, if they did not vote yes on the new contract, the money-losing, circulation-challenged tabloid would start moving to an all-digital format.

If the drivers’ deal is approved, most expect Zuckerman and Holiber to next go after the pressmen’s union in a bid to extract concessions from them. Their contract is also set to expire in March 2017.