Story from the Wall Street Journal
The Boston Globe late Tuesday reached a tentative agreement with its largest union on a package of wage and benefits cuts intended to curb deepening losses at New England's biggest daily and streamline it for sale.Officials from the Globe and the Boston Newspaper Guild said the tentative agreement is similar in scope to the one Guild members rejected two weeks ago, but this one includes a smaller wage reduction of 5.94%, offset by steeper benefits cuts, likely to tilt the scales toward ratification.
Guild members will be briefed on details of the agreement at a general membership meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the Guild said in a statement, and a vote has been set for July 20.
"Our aim throughout our negotiations has been to achieve the necessary savings in a way that causes the least hardship for our employees. We're very pleased to have reached an agreement that accomplishes those goals," Globe publisher Steve Ainsley said in a statement.
The agreement is a breakthrough for the two sides, which have been locked in increasingly contentious talks since early April when Globe parent New York Times Co. threatened to close the paper if it couldn't get $20 million in concessions.
Two weeks ago, the Guild, which is responsible for half of the $20 million in concessions, voted against a proposal that called for an 8.4% wage reduction, furloughs, a pension freeze and the elimination of job guarantees, among other concessions. In response, Times Co. said it would impose a 23% pay cut for all Guild members to achieve the necessary savings.
But a meeting early last week that was to focus on implementing the 23% wage cut turned into a lengthy negotiation that continued throughout the week. The Globe said Tuesday the existing 23% pay cut will remain in effect until the Guild vote. But Guild members will receive a lump sum payment to partially compensate them for wages lost up to the ratification date. The Globe, in turn, will deduct the cost of those payments from payments due to the Guild's health plan.
