The Boston Globe and its largest union resumed talks at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with lifetime job guarantees for some workers as the only major sticking point remaining, according to people briefed on both sides in the talks.þþAfter threatening to close the paper, The New York Times Company, owner of The Globe, has obtained concessions on wages, benefits and job security from the paper’s other unions, but the talks with the Boston Newspaper Guild stalled Monday morning. The people briefed on the guild negotiations, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the two sides were close to an agreement.þþThe company said last month that it would shut down The Globe unless the unions made wage and benefit concessions worth $20 million a year, and gave up job guarantees, making it easier to gain additional savings through layoffs. The company has said that the paper will lose $85 million this year, battered by the worst advertising downturn since the Depression.þþThe guild and a few other unions have contract provisions stating that workers who have been at The Globe continuously since the end of 1991 cannot be laid off unless the paper closes — a guarantee that covers 430 current employees. In talks over the last several days, all but the guild have agreed with the company on new terms that would relax that protection without eliminating it entirely.þþThe guild represents more than 600 employees in The Globe’s newsroom, advertising department and some other offices. The union has proposed concessions that it says would save the paper more than $10 million, including a 3.5 percent pay cut, unpaid furloughs and the elimination of retirement plan contributions.þþ
Source: NY Times
