Boston Newspaper Guild Votes No To Huge Cuts In Wages And Benefits

BOSTON/Dorchester - The Boston Globe’s largest employees union the Boston Newspaper Guild yesterday rejected the latest contract offered by parent company the New York Times. During contract negotiations the last two months Times officials have been saying that huge givebacks by workers including an overall reduction in salaries and benefits of 10 million dollars would be necessary to avert the closing of New England’s largest circulation newspaper. In what turned out to be a very slim margin Guild members voted 277 to 265 to reject the wage and benefit cuts. Last night in a brief statement to reporters outside the Globe’s headquarters in Dorchester Guild President Dan Totten said union members were calling on the Times to make a better offer. “Globe workers and the New England community understand that the quality of The Boston Globe - an institution so vital to the life and culture of the region - depends on the fair treatment of the men and women who work so hard to produce it... The Boston Newspaper Guild is committed to resuming good-faith negotiations with the New York Times Company and Globe management to reach an agreement." Shortly after the vote the Times declared an impasse in negotiations and imposed a 23 per cent pay cut starting next week. Times officials and Globe managers have been saying publicly for months that the company is on track to lose up to $85 million this year. In April the company threatened to close the Globe if employees did not agree to the cuts sparking intense negotiations between management and all the Globe’s unions. This morning the company issued a statement saying the 23 pay cut removes the threat of closure. Times spokesperson Catherine Mathis said “because we have achieved the $20 million in savings we needed we do not foresee closure at this time and are focused on executing the Globe’s turnaround plan.” Last night Guild President Dan Totten declined to answer reporter's questions about union strategy going forward. One possible option for the union is to try and stop the cuts by initiating a grievance procedure with the National Labor Relations Board. When asked if the Guild would “challenge” the cuts imposed by the New York Times Totten said “it’s a little premature to say until we see what’s on the table once we return to the table. So again the Boston Newspaper Guild is committed [to the negotiations.] “This whole matter started with a threat and it continued on with a threat and we hope the New York Times sees the value in what the Boston Newspaper Guild did today… and the threat should no longer continue and the talking needs to start and it needs to start soon.” However according to news reports on Boston.com the newspaper’s website Globe management announced Tuesday they were rejecting the Guild’s call for further negotiations. “Boston Globe management said today that it has ‘‘no interest’’ in bargaining further with the paper’s largest union over a package of concessions and will move ahead with imposing a 23 percent pay cut on members of the Boston Newspaper Guild.” Gregory Thornton – the Globe’s chief negotiator – said in a letter to Dan Totten “the parties have bargained and are at impasse. Therefore the Globe will not rescind its ‘declaration of impasse’ or withdraw its notice of implementation [of the 23 percent wage and benefit cuts.] Earlier in separate letters to Globe management and New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Totten and a group of reporters called on the company to rescind the cuts in wages healthcare and retirement benefits and to agree to mediation. Six other Globe unions have ratified agreements calling for workers to accept more than $10 million in wage and benefit cuts. Web Resources: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/06/times_co_wont_n.html http://www.bgol.org/ http://www.fsrn.org/headlines Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati