New York Times Strikes Deal With Boston Globe’s Holdout Union
by Peter Kafka
Posted on May 6, 2009 at 4:00 AM PT
The Boston Globe can keep printing.
The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, has reached an agreement with the Boston Newspaper Guild. The Guild, which represents 600 editorial employees at the paper, was the one union at the Globe that had yet to agree to concessions the Times said it needed to avoid a shutdown.
The Globe reports that the deal, reached overnight, includes “a substantial pay cut, unpaid furloughs, and modifications to the lifetime job guarantee provisions that protect almost 200 employees.”
On Tuesday night, the New York Times Co. (NYT) had presented a “last best offer” to cut wages by 23 percent in order to save $10 million a year at the Globe, which it says was on track to lose $85 million this year. The union had countered with what was essentially a five percent cut.
Related news: Discount retailer, Filene’s Basement, once a mainstay Globe advertiser, filed for Chapter 11 this week.
[Image credit: Tony the Misfit]
