By Delores Handy (WBUR)

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The largest union at the Boston Globe has approved contract concessions totaling $10 million.

Members of the Boston Newspaper Guild ratified the agreement by a vote of 366 to 179. It includes a salary reduction, suspension of company contributions to employee retirement funds and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees for about 170 long-time employees.

The Guild was the last of the paper’s major unions to approve the concessions. Six weeks ago, its members rejected a deal similar to the one it approved Monday. Management responded by slashing salaries 23 percent.

The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co., had threatened to shut the newspaper down entirely if unions did not agree to wage and benefit cuts. It has since backed off that threat, but is now trying to find a buyer for the Globe.

Boston Globe editor Marty Baron spoke with us about the new contract deal and where the paper goes from here.

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By Curt Nickisch (WBUR)

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There’s a clip on YouTube with two comedians promoting a show in Boston. In it, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal joke about going in halfsies on the Boston Globe — for just $400.

“None of the debts,” Mirman says nonchalantly. “None of that stuff, just the name, some of the equipment, maybe the building.”

“Maybe the dot.com,” Schaal adds, “we could buy that domain.”

The Boston Globe up for sale may lend itself to comic relief. Some people, though, might be dead serious about buying Boston.com.

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By Monica Brady-Myerov (WBUR)

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Negotiations continue Thursday between the Boston Newspaper Guild and the owner of the Boston Globe, The New York Times Co. But not in person. The two sides are communicating by e-mail and phone until their next scheduled face-to-face talks next Monday.

In the meantime, speculation also continues regarding the possible sale of the newspaper. The Globe has reported that three local businessmen are considering making a bid, either separately or together. The three men all have deep roots in the local area. Jack Connors Jr. is a retired ad executive, civic philanthropist Stephen Taylor is a member of the family who used to own the Boston Globe, and Stephen Pagliuca is a primary owner of the Boston Celtics.

Jack Connors

Jack Connors Jr. (WBUR)

Jack Connors’ interest in owning the paper could spring from his love for the city. He was born to Irish immigrants in Roslindale. After graduating from Boston College, he founded what became the city’s most successful advertising agency — Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopoulos Inc. He stepped down in 2003 and now oversees his family foundation, which is believed to be worth about $500 million.

Three years ago, Connors made an offer to buy the paper with retired General Electric CEO Jack Welch. It was rebuffed by The New York Times. Since then, Welch has moved out of town. But Connors remains very active in the community. He’s raised millions of dollars to rebuild Catholic schools. He’s helped reform health care law as Chairman of Partners HealthCare at a time when it grew to become the state’s largest employer. Connors spearheaded the fundraising to build Camp Harbor View, a summer day camp in Boston Harbor for inner-city kids.

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By Monica Brady-Myerov (WBUR)

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The Boston Globe’s largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, met with the paper’s corporate owners, The New York Times Co., for more than twelve hours Monday. The talks did not wrap up until after midnight.

Talks are expected to resume Tuesday at 3 p.m. on ways to get $10 million in savings The Times says it needs from the Guild in order to keep the Globe afloat.

The two sides talked late into the night but failed to come to an agreement over another way to save the money. The Times already cut wages 23 percent, saying it had to take that drastic measure after the union rejected a proposed deal.

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This week on The Bottom Line podcast:

The Boston Globe is for sale. But will anyone buy it? Also, houses are for sale, too, but is anyone buying those? And, dealerships close as Fiat buys Chrysler, and General Motors tries to resurrect its sales.

Hosted by Curt Nickisch.

By Bob Oakes (WBUR)

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The labor dispute at New England’s largest newspaper, the Boston Globe, may be just beginning. Despite two months of pressure from the Boston Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co., the largest union at the newspaper on Monday rejected a package of concessions designed to save $10 million.

The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents about 700 news, advertising and business workers at the Globe, wants to resume negotiations. But the Times Co. says it has no choice but to follow through on its threat to cut guild members’ wages by 23 percent.

Professor Tom Kochan of MIT’s Sloan School of Management spoke with us about what’s ahead for the newspaper.

Bob Oakes: The Guild has offered to resume contract negotiations, to find another way to achieve the $10 million in savings The New York Times wants. Do you think there’s much of a chance of talks resuming?

Tom Kochan: Well, both parties really have an incentive to go back to the table, given that the vote was so close — a 12-vote difference. It’s clear there are many, many members of the guild who want to go back to the table and get a deal. It’s also clear that while the Globe can impose this 23-percent wage reduction, it’s not certain that the National Labor Relations Board will approve that decision in the end.

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By Monica Brady-Myerov and Bob Oakes (WBUR)

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Boston Newspaper Guild President Dan Totten, right, addresses reporters outside The Boston Globe building after the union rejected a new contract Monday. (AP Photo)

The largest union at the Boston Globe, the Boston Newspaper Guild, has rejected a new contract with the paper’s owner, The New York Times Co. The contract would have cut salaries by 10 percent and slashed health benefits, pensions and retirement plans for a saving of $10 million.

The Guild says the Times must do better. But the Times says it is not going back to the bargaining table and, instead, will cut pay for Guild members by 23 percent, effective next week. The Times has dropped its previous threat to shut down the newspaper.

Vote breakdown: Editorial v. business

The vote was close, with 277 members voting against the contract and 265 members voting in favor.

The Guild is made up of 670 members, half from the editorial side of the operation and half from the business side. The classified and advertising side strongly and vocally opposed the deal, whereas the reporters and editors seemed more resigned. The voting was secret, so we don’t know how the results broke down, but union members have said the building was more or less split in half, and the outcome supports that idea.

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By John Carroll (WBUR Senior Media Analyst)

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Whichever way the Boston Newspaper Guild votes on Monday, the Globe as we’ve known it is yesterday’s news.

Even if the Globe’s parent New York Times Co. gets its $20 million in union givebacks, the paper-shredding at the local broadsheet has just begun. There’s still $65 million more the Globe will lose this year, according to Times Co. projections.

That means a much leaner, much lighter, much less ambitious Boston Globe in the near future.

That also means fewer local investigative efforts such as the one that dismantled former House Speaker Sal DiMasi. Or the one that defrocked pedophile priests in the Archdiocese of Boston. Or the one that deconstructed the waste, fraud and abuse at the Big Dig.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many candidates to replace the Globe in that department.

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By Monica Brady-Myerov (WBUR)

Early Wednesday morning, the Boston Globe’s largest union finally reached a deal with the paper’s owners, The New York Times Co., that will keep the Globe in business.

Few details of the agreement have been released until it is put before the members of the Boston Newspaper Guild on Thursday.

However, the Boston Globe’s web site reports the union gave in to the Times demand that it give up lifetime job guarantees for about 190 Guild members. The guarantees were granted by the Taylor family when it sold the paper to the Times in 1993.

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By Curt Nickisch (The Bottom Line)

Talks are to resume at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning between the management of the Boston Globe and its largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild. The two sides have yet to agree on cutting costs and worker protections that management says is necessary to keep the paper running.

Talks stalled Monday, after the union would not budge on giving up the lifetime job guarantees that more than 100 of its members have. But at the same time, management won similar concessions from other smaller unions, and that has changed the backdrop for Tuesday’s negotiations.

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