Boston Globe union says no to givebacks

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By Jennifer Harper

After two months of public drama between the New York Times and the Boston Globe, members of the Boston Newspaper Guild voted Monday night to turn down the Times' demands that the union come up with $10 million in concessions on wages and benefits -- or risk the shuttering of the paper.

The union rejected the move, by a vote of 277-265 -- eliciting an almost immediate reaction from Globe management.

"We are disappointed," they told the union in a letter. "As a result of the rejection of this proposal, we have reverted to our alternative Final Record Proposal, which provides for a 23 percent wage reduction for all Guild members."

Management expressed perfunctory regret and added, "but we have no financially viable alternative."

Union officials had no immediate reaction. The pay cuts take effect next week. The union earlier promised to take legal action should the cuts go into effect.

The guild, which represents editorial, advertising and business employees, allowed its members to vote on the package, but did not endorse it.

In total, the Times has asked for $20 million in concessions from all the staff's unions, but the demand is still a work in progress. A union representing drivers trimmed $2.5 million from its operating costs Sunday. The Globe's union machinists, however, have rejected any concessions.

guild ultimately turn down the edict of its paper's parent company, the Times' has threatened an across-the-board pay cut of 23 percent among the membership.

The Times paid $1.1 billion for the Globe in 1994, and the paper is now losing more than $1 million a week. The Times, meanwhile, is suffering through employee buyouts, pay cuts and a 28 percent drop in advertising revenue.