'Boston Globe' union rejects pay cuts
BOSTON -- The Boston Globe's largest union rejected a new contract Monday, refusing to accept $10 million in annual pay and benefit cuts despite threats of even deeper wage cuts or the possible closure of the 137-year-old newspaper.
The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents 700 editorial, advertising and business employees, voted 277-265 against the new contract negotiated after the Globe's parent company, The New York Times Co., said it needed $20 million in annual savings from Globe unions — half from the Guild — to avoid shutting down the newspaper.
About 80% of union members voted, officials said.
The contract included an 8.3% wage cut, five-day unpaid furloughs and cuts in health care benefits, 401(k) contributions and pensions. It also would have eliminated lifetime job guarantees for 190 Guild workers. Most got those promises in exchange for other concessions in a contract ratified in 1994, shortly after the Times Co. bought the Globe for $1.1 billion.
The Times Co. had said that if the Guild rejected the proposal, it would try to impose a 23% wage cut. It also could follow through on an earlier threat to close the newspaper, which would require giving 60 days notice to employees and the state.
Donovan Slack, the newspaper's city hall bureau chief, said earlier Monday that she had voted to approve the contract.
"I was up most of the night for the last few weeks, just really conflicted about this decision," said Slack, a six-year veteran at the Globe. "On the one hand, it seems like a really unfair deal and a lot of people voting 'no' made me waver. But then when it really came down to it, I don't have room to gamble with a quarter of my pay and I have no doubt that the New York Times Co. will institute that pay cut immediately."
Shirley Goh, a copy editor who has worked at the Globe for four years, said she also feared a 23% wage cut, but didn't want that to sway her vote either way.
"It's definitely a possibility, and of course I'm worried," said Goh, who was against the new contract. "But I didn't want that to be the main reason I voted. I looked at the proposal and all the provisions, that's basically what I voted on."
She said she didn't believe executives and managers have felt the same strain their employees have. The Guild said last week that executives saw a 5% pay cut, but through only the end of the year.
"I think that it's important to make a stand," Goh said. "I think that it would be more fair if the managers took cuts that are similar to ours."
Union leaders had presented the contract offer to the union without a recommendation either way.
The Times Co. demanded the $20 million in annual concessions amid an increasingly dire financial situation at the Globe. The newspaper has struggled as readers migrated to the Internet, advertising revenue declined drastically and circulation fell. The Globe had $50 million in operating losses in 2008 and had been projected to lose $85 million this year.
"It is essential and non-negotiable that we achieve $10 million in cost savings from the Guild," Publisher P. Steven Ainsley wrote in a memo to Guild members last week. "Our financial situation is too urgent and further delays to resolution are not an option."
Six other Globe unions have approved concessions — but they hinged on the Guild's ratification of new terms.
Teamsters Local 259, which represents delivery drivers, voted 89-69 Sunday in favor of roughly $2.5 million in wage and benefit cuts. A machinists union representing fewer than 30 employees rejected concessions that day, the first union to do so. But Powers said the decision does not affect the $20 million in savings needed from other bargaining units.
Employees at dozens of other newspapers have recently agreed to pay and benefit cuts, but those voted down by the Globe's Guild members would have been among the deepest.
Union workers at The New York Times agreed last month to accept a 5% pay cut through the end of the year and take 10 days paid vacation to help the newspaper avert more layoffs. Management plans to restore pay to its previous levels next year if the newspaper's advertising revenue rebounds.
The union representing newsroom employees at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in April approved a 6.6% pay cut for its members in exchange for 10 more paid days off this year, as well as a guarantee of no layoffs through Sept. 30.