Wednesday, June 25, 2008

That, according to two Globe employees, was one big question raised at the Monday "town meeting" at the paper's Morrissey Boulevard headquarters.

When a possible sale of the Globe by the NYT Co. came up, one employee says, Arthur Sulzberger replied: "As you can imagine, we can't get into that whole thing.... We can't go down that road. That's why CEOs go to jail.... We do face a raft of challenging issues. That's the hand we were dealt." The focus, Sulzberger added, should be on "fixing the Globe and making the Globe the paper it should be...to get the Globe moving on a trajectory that offers growth and stability." Talking about a possible sale is "muddying the waters," he concluded.

Janet Robinson's answer was shorter. "Our focus has to be strengthening our business," she reportedly said. "We must do so in a way that's right for the Globe."

By way of comparison, contrast these non-denials to Robinson's November 2006 response to the Jack Welch/Jack Connors/Joe O'Donnell group.

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."