Globe threatened with shutdown

Published Apr 03 2009, 07:28 PM by Adam Reilly

A reliable source tells DQM that the New York Times Co. has threatened to close the Boston Globe if the paper's unions don't agree to $20 million in concessions in the next 30 days. Possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the NYT Co., and the elimination of the lifetime job guarantees some union members enjoy.

I'm told the threat was made at a meeting that NYT Co. and Globe executives had with the paper's unions yesterday morning--and that the situation will be reported in a front-page story in tomorrow's paper.

Globe spokesman Bob Powers declined comment this afternoon.

INSTANT UPDATE: Dan Totten, head of the Boston Newspaper Guild, sent the following message to his membership this afternoon:

Dear Guild membership,

I feel it necessary to let you know of a meeting the Globe's 13 unions had with the NYTimes and Boston Globe management Thursday. First, this was a confidential meeting - and this union is nothing without its word. So I intend to keep the details of the meeting private as promised by that agreement. Unfortunately, other people have not and rumors are circulating.

Here is what I can tell you. The Globe and NYTimes management painted a not-unexpected dire picture of the Boston Globe's financial situation. They are looking for financial concessions from all unions.
Again, this is not unexpected given the recent 5 percent pay cut for managers across the company (that 5% management/exempt pay cut comes with an additional 10 paid personal days for management/exempt - making any giveback a virtual wash).

We are now beginning to enter in discussions with management about what they are looking for from us and examining savings opportunities for them. The BNG just lost a significant number of people over the last 3 weeks across both news and business areas and those cuts need to be factored into any future discussions between Guild - Globe.

As negotiations go forward, we will keep you posted. My office door is always open, although as you can understand, there tends to be long lines outside these days.

Dan

Filed Under: Boston Globe, Dan Totten, Boston Newspaper Guild, NYT Co., newspaper woes

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7 Comments

James said:

Wow. With such a popular world-view, I'm shocked that the Globe is falling off a cliff like this. They really seemed in synch with how law-abiding, tax-paying Americans think. Bummer.

April 4, 2009 1:56 AM
John said:

The Globe and the Herald should be allowed to merge, though even that might not save them.

The idea that this would be travesty because of the opposing ideologies of the papers is ridiculous. All good journalists aim for balance and the role of an Editorial page is a relic from a bygone era when barons owned papers to inject their personal views into politics.

A combined Herald-Globe editorial page could offer both sides to issues -- and leave the opinions to columnists rather than forcing the paper itself to take a side. This whole idea that papers need to take sides on issues is antiquated. And the idea that 5 people sitting in a room (today's Editorial page writers) are instant experts on every possible issue is insulting to readers.

Once the paper is combined, it should focus hugely on local issues and move to a paid-content online model where readers must subscribe to get full stories and access a database of stories. The WSJ seems to be the only paper that understands how this model is the future.

Anyway, good luck to the Globe. My personal view is that it's been all downhill since the days of Tom Winship -- the last editor who got the most from the staff. That's when it was a truly scrappy paper -- and that's what local papers need to be.

April 4, 2009 9:44 AM

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Globe threatened with shutdown

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