Boston Globe Workers Reach Tentative Pact; Unions Offer Options for Media Jobs Crisis
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After weeks of intense negotiations, including a 10-hour session last night, The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) and the Boston Globe reached a tentative agreement early this morning that, if approved, would prevent the closure of one of the nation’s oldest newspapers. Meanwhile, in testimony today in the Senate, media unions highlighted strategies for addressing the industry’s finanical crisis.
The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, had demanded a 23 percent pay cut and changes in job-guarantee language. Details of the tentative deal were not released, pending a meeting with Guild members scheduled for tomorrow.
The Globe deal comes as newspapers across the country are struggling through the recession, which has caused sharp declines in circulation and advertising revenue. Newspapers have laid off staff, eliminated sections, entered into bankruptcy or shut down.
Tribune Bankruptcy Targets Workers
Workers will take a big brunt of the fallout from the bankruptcy of the Tribune Co., with the company seeking to cut costs on the backs of workers. At court hearings Wednesday, the media conglomerate asked permission to cut employee severance payments and health care benefits.
The Chicago-based Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, claiming it is $13 billion in debt, and experts say this is just the first of what could be many more filings by newspaper companies, many of which are saddled with huge debts and declining revenues. The chain includes such well-known newspapers as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel and the Hartford Courant, 23 TV stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Cubs are not part of the bankruptcy.
