BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Globe's largest union on Wednesday approved a new four-year contract that includes a unique provision tying wage increases to revenue gains at the newspaper and its Web site.þþThe Boston Newspaper Guild voted 364 to 194, with two abstaining, to approve the deal, which also brings nearly 40 Boston.com employees into the Guild and increases company health care contributions while giving the newspaper more flexibility in work assignments.þþThe union, which represents more than 1,000 reporters, editors, advertising sales staff and ad designers, circulation managers and other Globe staff, rejected a similar proposal in October partly because it did not include revenues from the Web site, an area with potential for more rapid growth than the newspaper.þþ''The Boston Newspaper Guild fought and kept the integrity of one of the best contracts in the newspaper business,'' Dan Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild said.þþUnder their current contract, top-scale reporters make nearly $1,400 per week.þþThe new agreement, effective from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2009, provides for a 1.3 percent wage increase next year, and a 1.4 percent increase in 2008 if combined Boston Globe and Boston.com revenues are equal to or better than the prior year.þþ''This agreement recognizes the current economic challenges facing the Globe,'' Globe Senior Vice President Gregory L. Thornton said in a statement.þþ
Source: NY Times
