Members of The Boston Globe’s largest union have launched a petition to remove top union leaders and force an election to select new ones, just two months after ratifying $10 million in pay and benefit cuts. The petition drive would recall the Boston Newspaper Guild’s executive committee, comprising seven officers, including president Daniel Totten.
Totten declined to comment. He has come under sharp criticism from some members during negotiations for concessions demanded by the paper’s owner, The New York Times Co. Some members said Totten did not adequately communicate with rank and file - a criticism that flared last week when members learned health plan costs could be more than anticipated.
“There’s a feeling that the executive committee has made a bad situation worse,’’ said Tim Flynn, a copy editor, union delegate, and one of the petition’s organizers.
The Guild represents about 650 editorial, advertising, and business workers. If 20 percent of members sign the petition, a meeting would be called to decide, by majority vote of members present, whether to hold a recall election, according to petition organizers.
