Globe union rejects deal, cuts on horizon

BOSTON – In a 277-to-265 vote last night, the Boston Globe’s Newspaper Guild members have rejected the latest contract offer by the company. The plan was expected to save about $10 million per year in compensation and benefit expenses.
As a result, the paper’s parent, The New York Times Co., said that it would unilaterally impose a 23 percent pay cut on the Guild members, who include 670 newsroom, advertising and administrative employees. It is the Globe’s largest union. (READ MORE)
The newspaper lost 14 percent in average weekday circulation in the six months through March, compared with a 7.1 percent decline in the rest of the industry, according to Bloomberg News. In addition, Bloomberg reported that revenue at the New England Media Group, which includes the Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, showed a 21 percent decline in the 2009 first quarter compared with a year earlier.
The Times management has said that without the cuts, in combination with $10 million in concessions from the Globe’s other unions, the paper was on track to lose $85 million in 2009.
Guild leaders believe that the company’s offer could be improved. “We hope The New York Times sees the value of what the Boston Newspaper Guild did today,” said Daniel Totten, president of the union.
In a letter posted to the union’s Web site before the vote, the union leader said that Times’ management had received a 66 percent boost to its 401(k) matching contribution at the same time that it is proposing to eliminate the company match for Guild members. He also charged that while management received bonus payments in February, union members had not seen a pay raise in four years, and were being asked to accept a 10 percent pay cut in the latest contract proposal.
Union officials have said that they would fight the unilateral pay cut, which the company said it would impose on Monday, at the National Labor Relations Board, and that the Guild expected to resume bargaining for a new contract.