Globe union, management gather to resume talks

With a horde of print and broadcast media camped outside, representatives of Globe management and the Boston Newspaper Guild have convened in Weymouth, at the offices of the Labor Guild of the Archdiocese of Boston, to resume negotiations.

The Globe's owner, The New York Times Co., is looking for major financial and contract concessions from the guild, the newspaper's largest union.

The Guild is the lone hold-out among the paper's unions after more than a month of intense negotiations conducted under the threat of shuttering the Globe, which is projected to lose $85 million without significant cost reductions. Six unions have agreed to a total of $10 million in give-backs, as well as changes in contract language, including modifications of lifetime job guarantees enjoyed by veteran members of some unions.

The Times Co. is seeking $10 million from the Guild, half the $20 million the company said it needs from unions to keep operating the Globe. On Sunday, as a midnight deadline to reach agreements approached, Globe management said it would file a 60-day plant closing notice with the state yesterday. After gaining agreements with six of seven unions, Globe management decided against filing the notice yesterday. But the threat of closure, while diminished, remains until a deal is struck with the Guild, which represents more than 600 editorial, advertising and business office workers.

Guild officials said they provided the company with $10 million in savings during a marathon bargaining session Sunday. But the negotiations have become tangled over the company's demand to eliminate lifetime job guarantees, which apply to about 190 Guild members.
(By Robert Gavin, Globe staff)