Just received an email sent from several Globe staffers to the leadership of the Boston Newspaper Guild (with the exception of the embattled Dan Totten), in which they ask the union to find some way to avoid implementation of what sounds like a very bare-bones healthcare plan.

In terms of management-union and intra-union dynamics at the Globe, what's really striking is the paragaph in which the signers claim they received misleading information from the NYT Co.

Fascinating twist in the battle for control of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's biggest union: the Guild's executive board has taken action against Guild head Dan Totten for (if I'm reading the legalese correctly) allegedly inappropriate handling of union finances. The email sent to Guild members this afternoon follows; I'll post more as the situation develops.

 

 

As you may know, there's a movement afoot inside the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's largest union, to hold a recall election. The impetus? Dissatisfaction with the way the Guild's leaders--including Guild head Dan Totten--handled the recent concede-or-close threat from the New York Times Company.

According to the Guild's bylaws, the recall-election process is actually pretty straightforward:

A recall election may be initiated in two ways: (a) The Governing Board, by a two-thirds vote of its entire membership, may initiate a recall election process in the case of some or all union officers or delegates; or (b) the membership may initiate a recall election process with 20 percent of the membership signing a petition to the Governing Board for that purpose.

1. The Governing Board must so inform the membership of this decision and reasons for this decision within 10 days.

2. The Governing Board must call a general membership meeting for the purpose of discussing this decision.

3. The general membership will then have the power to call a special election under the election procedures in Article III. 

Earlier today, though, I was forwarded an email--originally sent by Totten--which argues, basically, that it's not that simple....

My first thought, when I heard about the tentative agreement struck by management and the Boston Newspaper Guild last night, was that Guild head Dan Totten must be patting himself on the back right now. After all, Totten's non-endorsement of the contract proposal rejected by the Guild last month was predicated on the assumption that he could get a better offer from the Times Co

Readers of this blog know I've been alternately critical of and sympathetic to Dan Totten--the head of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the sole remaining holdout in negotiations with Globe management and the NYT Co.

Given my own inconsistency, I'm not quite ready to say that today's Herald story proves that Totten is a leech who's been using his post to enrich himself.

In today's Herald, Christine McConville reports on dissension in the ranks of the Boston Newspaper Guild as possible closure by the New York Times Co. looms--a subject I've been interested in for quite a while, and that I'll be examining further in a story that'll be online later today.

In a previous post on this subject, I intimated that Guild head Dan Totten had jumped the gun in ruling out certain concessions before tabulating the results of a survey distributed to union members the day before.

What's the line-up of today's Save-the-Globe fete at Faneuil Hall, you ask? Here it is (remember, the procedings start at noon):

Brian Mooney, Boston Globe reporter
Bella English, Boston Globe reporter
Mike Ross, Boston City Council President
David Jackson, Nieman Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter from the Chicago Tribune

Earlier tonight, Dan Totten--head of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the paper's biggest union--emailed his membership regarding Friday's "Save the Globe" rally at Faneuil Hall. The email follows; note, in particular, the emphasis on getting Globe journalists to the event.

As I've previously written, the divide between the Guild's newsroom and non-newsroom members is one of the more interesting subplots of the current Globe crisis.

I may have missed the biggest precondition set by the Boston Newspaper Guild earlier today re: its concession talks with the New York Times Co.--and the AP may have, too. Sharp-eyed readers tell me that the Guild statement effectively says the union has no intention of discussing the paper's lifetime job guarantees or their possible elimination.

Today's Globe story on the concessions the NYT Co. is seeking from the Globe's mailers mentions a letter sent by Boston Newspaper Guild head Dan Totten to his membership (which doesn't include the mailers), noting that Totten urged his members to speak with one voice and not be bullied by the Times Co.

I've been forwarded the letter in question.

The Boston Newspaper Guild is the biggest union at the Globe, and the union that's currently being asked by the NYT Co. to make the biggest sacrifices to prevent the paper from closing. As such, it's poised to help shape the future of Boston journalism, for better or worse. But only one member of the Guild's seven-member executive committee--Kathy McCabe, the union's recording secretary, who's a correspondent for the Globe North section--actually works as a journalist.

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.

In his reply to today's announcement of up to 50 impending newsroom cuts at the Boston Globe, Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten argues that any cuts should focus exclusively on Globe management.

Also noteworthy: according to Totten's email, the new buyout program will be open to all editorial staff, however long they've worked at the paper.

If you thought that the recent decision by Boston Globe drivers to accept a wage cut and fewer holidays meant that Globe management was successfully making the case for austerity to the paper's employees, think again.

Yesterday--in advance of a December 9 meeting on the possible re-opening of the contract of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the paper's largest union--BNG head Dan Totten sent a memo to Globe management that excoriated management's approach to employee relations.