Boston Globe union rejects cuts, Times to slash pay

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New York: The Boston Globe's largest union narrowly rejected concessions on Monday that owner New York Times Co said would save $10 million, raising the possibility of the 137-year-old daily newspaper's demise.

Members of the Boston Newspaper Guild voted 277-265 against accepting the concessions, which include an 8.4 per cent pay cut, one-week unpaid furloughs and other cuts.

The rejection raises the tension between the Globe and its largest union and casts the survival of one of the most respected US daily newspapers into doubt.

The Globe will cut union member pay by 23 per cent as of next week to get the savings that it needs, the newspaper's management said in a statement released a little more than an hour after the union released the results of the vote.

"We regret having to take this action but have no financially viable alternative," spokesman Robert Powers said.

The next steps are uncertain. The union has said it would challenge the move before the National Labor Relations Board, and the Times Co has threatened to close the newspaper if it could not get $20 million in savings from seven unions.

It wanted $10 million in cuts from the newspaper guild.

Globe officials were not immediately available for comment on whether closing the newspaper remained an option.

"This is hardball of a degree that we may not have seen at any point before," said Tom Fiedler, dean of Boston University's College of Communication and former Miami Herald editor. "Is The New York Times willing to... be in a position of shutting down one of the great newspapers in the country?"

Six other unions have agreed to the concessions, leaving the Boston Newspaper Guild as the only holdout.

"With today's vote, members of the Boston Newspaper Guild have said that the New York Times Company must do better than the offer that was presented," Guild President Dan Totten said in a statement. "The Boston Newspaper Guild is committed to resuming good-faith negotiations with the New York Times Company and Globe management to reach an agreement."

The results of the vote were posted on the Boston Newspaper Guild's website on Monday evening. About 80 per cent of the 690 members cast ballots at the Globe's office on Monday.

Despite the close vote, there was little sign of strain among Globe colleagues as they prepared Tuesday's paper, according to reports from the newsroom.

Still, the Times Co's pay cut will be hard if it is allowed to go into effect.