Globe union approves big cuts

The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents nearly 700 editorial, advertising, and business office workers, became the last of the Globe’s major unions to ratify sizable financial and other concessions that the paper’s owner, The New York Times Co., has said it needs to keep operating the 137-year-old paper. The Globe was projected to lose $85 million this year if significant cost reductions were not made, according to the Times Co.

With a turnout of about 80 percent, Guild members voted 366 to 179 to approve the contract, which includes pay cuts, furloughs, and unpaid vacation that reduce earnings by about 9 percent; deep reductions in health and retirement benefits, including a pension freeze; and elimination of lifetime job guarantees for about 170 veteran employees.

“The ratification strengthens the stability of The Boston Globe and Boston.com,’’ Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley said in a note to employees. “Since we now have settled contracts with all our major unions, let me take this opportunity to thank every Globe employee, union and nonunion, for the sacrifices you have made to meet the unprecedented challenges we faced at the beginning of the year.’’

Globe editor Martin Baron in a note to newsroom staff wrote: “I know how stressful the past several months have been for all of you. Still, despite the pressures and the tension, you have never wavered in your commitment to deliver journalism of the highest caliber.’’

Guild president Daniel Totten said, “It has been a long and difficult period for everyone, and we hope we can now work with prospective buyers to help The Boston Globe and Boston.com to carry on with its vital mission to promote good journalism and protect free speech.’’

While the Times Co. has put the Globe up for sale and several potential bidders have emerged, it’s still unclear when and whether New England’s largest newspaper will be sold.

The Guild follows six other unions that recently ratified wage, benefit, and other concessions totaling slightly more than $10 million. In April, the Times Co. threatened to shutter the Globe unless it got a total of $20 million in union concessions.

The ratification of the Guild contract comes more than a month after members narrowly rejected a similar package by just 12 votes. After that vote, the Times Co. imposed a 23 percent pay cut on Guild members to achieve the demanded savings from the Guild. The union responded by filing unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Both sides, however, returned to the table to negotiate a new package. The key components demanded by the Times Co. remained in place: $10 million in total savings, elimination of job guarantees, and a pension freeze. Union leaders, however, negotiated a lower base pay cut to 5.9 percent from the initial 8.4 percent in exchange for additional benefit cuts.

Guild members, meanwhile, have had to live with the 23 percent pay cut since June 14. The smaller pay cut will go into effect Sunday.

In addition, Guild members will be reimbursed for most of the difference between the lower and higher pay cuts, with the company making a one-time cut in its union healthcare contributions to cover the cost.

Guild employees could receive reimbursement checks as soon as Friday, said Globe spokesman Robert Powers. The union, under the agreement, will drop the unfair labor practice charges.

Stacey Myers, a copy editor who has worked at the Globe for about 18 months, said it wasn’t easy to vote for a package of wage and benefit cuts.

“I didn’t enjoy voting yes, but there’s not a better deal out there,’’ she said. “When I look at the other papers I used to work for, a lot of these measures are already in place. We’re not an isolated case.’’

James Franklin, an assistant night editor who has worked at the Globe for 37 years, said he voted “no’’ because the company wanted too much.

For example, he said, even though he’s already earned the maximum pension benefits, he believes that providing for workers’ retirement is a “minimum responsibility that the employer owes to its employees.’’

He said he was also skeptical the Globe’s financial condition is as dire as the Times Co. has claimed. “The story kept changing at the bargaining table, which undermined my confidence in their figures,’’ he said.

But even with the union concessions, the Globe’s future remains uncertain.

The worst recession since the Great Depression has yet to end, while neither the Times Co. nor other newspaper owners have found a solution to the industry’s underlying problem: the migration of readers and advertisers to the Internet.

And whether the Globe will get a new owner remains up in the air.

Robert Rosenthal, chairman of the communications and journalism department at Suffolk University, said the ratification will make the Globe more attractive to prospective buyers because it provides labor peace.

While the company has in place a turnaround plan that includes plant consolidation and raising prices, Rosenthal said the concession also helps solve the paper’s immediate financial problems.

“It has stopped the bleeding and bought time to develop a new business model,’’ Rosenthal said.

Robert Gavin can be reached at gavin@globe.com.