Globe management: "a far different and more efficient business model"

That's the goal described in the June 18 letter from Globe senior VP Gregory L. Thornton, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, that officially proposed a 10 percent wage cut for most Globe employees.

"As we shared with you and other union leaders [at a June 3 presentation], despite constant and relentless cost cutting, Globe revenues continue to decline and continue to be less than needed to support the expense load of our current organization," Thornton wrote. "The only way for this newspaper to ameliorate the current financial situation is for us collectively to create a far different and more efficient business model that can continue to produce the award-winning journalism that has taken us into the 21st century. We continue to believe that we should be the newspaper of record in New England and are determined to make the necessary changes to ensure that."

The possibility of a ten-percent wage cut was also discussed at a Monday afternoon "Town Meeting" at Globe HQ that featured Janet Robinson and Arthur Sulzberger. Robinson and Sulzberger apparently fielded questions for an hour, with Globe publisher Steven Ainsley occasionally commenting as well.

According to a Globe staffer who was there, when a mailroom employee asked about the possible cut, Ainsley stressed that nothing had been decided: "It's part of a collective bargaining process," he reportedly said. "There is significant financial pressure. It's not a fact, it's a proposal."

Sulzberger then added: "We have to redefine what it means to be the Boston Globe.... Some of the levers relate to cost. We're trying to do more with less.... We have to redefine what the Boston Globe is in a new universe."