The Globe Staves Off Death
May 12, 2009
After weeks of threats led many to believe that the Boston Globe was on borrowed time, the union and the New York Times Co. reached an agreement that will enable the paper to continue operations.
Pay cuts, unpaid furloughs, and changes to the lifetime job guarantee provisions resulted in concessions of $20 million that the Times had required. The elimination of job guarantees ensures that lay offs are on the horizon for a paper that is projected to lose $85 million this year.
Last month, employees of the Globe, union workers, and readers rallied in Boston to support the paper and speak out against the Times. The website www.savethebostonglobe.com was also launched in an effort to save the paper.
Although many members of the union were hesitant to concede certain aspects of their original contract, they agreed that they had to do whatever possible to save the paper.
A rare success story in the era of dying newspapers.
