Boston Globe Union Granted Deadline Extension For Concession Talks

BOSTON — Negotiations between unions at The Boston Globe and its owner, The New York Times Co., will continue after the company agreed to extend its midnight deadline for the newspapers' employees to make $20 million in concessions.

"Because there has been progress on reaching needed cost savings, The Boston Globe will extend the deadline for reaching complete agreements with its unions until midnight Sunday May 3," Globe spokesman Robert Powers said in a statement.

Leaders of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's largest union, asked for an extension of Friday's deadline after discovering what they called a $4.5 million accounting error. The Guild, which has been asked to come up with $10 million of the $20 million in concessions, said ownership mistakenly was counting the salaries and benefits of 80 people who have left their jobs at the Globe since the beginning of the year.

"We have given the New York Times Co. and Globe management proposals for deep cuts in our members' pay and benefits that we believe will save The Boston Globe," Daniel Totten, Guild president, said in a statement. "We are awaiting the company's response."

The concessions sought by the Times Co. could include pay cuts, a reduction in pension contributions and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees for some senior employees. Those guarantees state that the staffers cannot be let go without cause.

The Globe, like many newspapers, is struggling with declines in circulation and advertising. The Globe's operations lost $50 million last year and are projected to lose $85 million this year.

The Times Co. announced in April that it would close the Globe unless the concessions were met.

Negotiations between the Guild and the company are scheduled to resume Sunday, the union said.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com

Comments

[Schvenzlerman]

Shut it down.

[wayoutleft]

are we obliged to go through the Perils of Pauline for months with these guys too? are these guys GM and Chrysler for intellectuals? can't anybody go broke without going through the last act of King Lear in public? stay tuned... and stay and stay... and stay. you think the UAW is trouble? these guys' unions will eat everybody for lunch. upside? it would help clean up 42nd street.

[Altruth]

Newspapers are a waste of trees. Not too long ago type writers were replaced with computers; why is it so difficult for the newspaper industry to accept technology and go online and eliminate the paper.

[Mike Keough]

Part 1...
While I appreciate the problems we are in, I am also wondering, with my typical cynicism, the net result of the solutions. I remember reading something about a New Wold Order years ago, so I googled it. This is one of the definition­s...
"The term New World Order (NWO) has been used by numerous politicians through the ages, and is a generic term used to refer to a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group of genetically-related individuals (at least at the highest echelons) which include many of the world's wealthiest people, top political leaders, and corporate elite, as well as members of the so-called Black Nobility of Europe (dominated by the British Crown) whose goal is to create a One World (fascist) Government, stripped of nationalistic and regional boundaries, that is obedient to their agenda."

[Mike Keough]

Part 2...
It is interesting to me that wealthy people have put us into the position where banks are consolidating and getting rather huge. That it looks like newspapers will end up being owned by a "few"., insurance companies will be owned by a "few", and that the wealthy are just consolidating their ownership, power, and reach. While this is happing Unions are renegotiating contracts, getting less money and less benefits, there are massive layoffs which lead to ever deeper cuts in employee compensation, and the rich are getting richer. This feels like the New World Order is coming to pass. Corporations now control the members of Congress with their donations, lobbying, and unbridled influence, so we have noone to stand for us.
This is starting to feel like a very effective first-step. Could they be that smart?

[scottarino]

My man, newspapers are already owned by a few large corporate chains. That is why they cannot ride out this bad economy. They tried to grow too large too fast to corner the print media market. The consolidation has been happening the past 10-20 years, we are seeing the fruits of consolidation in newspapers today, just as we are seeing it in the banking industry. Hate to say this, but you're about 10 years too late to this problem. But fear not, the super chain of newspapers will shrink back to a much smaller size, then local papers will make ends meet and continue production in print and /or online, and people will know what is happening in their town with their elected officials and how their local tax dollars are being spent.

[Diogenis]

nuf time? ehh?

[larry278]

When in Boston, it's the Herald, NYC-it's the Post or WSJ, in Toranto-it's the Star. For the rest of N America-it's the web.
Pooch Sulzberger is going to fold the Globe-regardless of what happens, it's the same for the NYT. See who is printing in June, 2009.

[raker]

The Herald? The paper of Bigfoot and Ratboy? Granted, there's nothing left of the Globe to save, but The Herald's no alternative.

[wwwFIXNEWSNOWorg]

print media has lied its way into oblivion - maybe MSM TV News will follow...

[scottarino]

right...af­ter all, everything on the internet is the truth. Especially other human beings "blogging" on news events, those people are above reproach. But everyone else who's NOT on the internet is not trust worthy. Please contact me, I have a car I would like to sell you. A real cream puff.

[lmvd3]

As a subscriber to the world class New York Times, I hope union folks at the paper know that readers deeply appreciate their concessions to keep the paper going. Folks across the country can support this union by maintaining our subscriptions. I for one, have made a personal commitment to do so, and I invite others to join me.

[bikerdude]

Thank you that comment and your support of the workers. I wonder how much Pinch Sulzberger and his favorite CEO Janet Robinson are kicking in?
The big mistake was selling the Globe to the NYT group. They have had very little success with subsidiaries, from the International stuff, to newspaper chains to the magazine group...Th­e could never find a way to help.

[phreddy111]

the times they are a'changing (no pun intended).­..readersh­ip for print media has been shrinking for years and will continue to shrink. While there still is a place for printed news, it is a smaller, more focused place. With the kinds of losses the Globe has seen in the last couple of years, it's only a matter of time before it folds.