A large union representing workers in the newspaper industry said it is trying to pull together a “worker-friendly” buyout of as many as nine newspapers owned by Knight Ridder, the San Jose publisher that put itself on the block amid pressure from its largest shareholders.

The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America said in a memo dated yesterday that it has hired Duff & Phelps Inc. of Chicago and Ownership Associates Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., to advise it on a possible deal.

The union will seek financial backing from “a national network of ‘worker friendly’ private-equity firms that has emerged over the past two decades,” the managing director of Duff & Phelps, Richard May, said in a press release announcing the plan.

He added that the union also would explore joint bids with other strategic and financial partners.

“Standing still is not an option,” the president of the Newspaper Guild, Linda Foley, said in the press release. “Each of the … properties our advisory team has identified is profitable. We think there are solid business opportunities out there. We are going to go after those properties and we are going to attempt to persuade others in labor, management and the investment community to join us. We have formally requested that Knight Ridder open the process to include our bid.”