Boston Newspaper Guild rejects concession package, cuts ensue

With a 277 to 265 vote, The Boston Newspaper Guild rejected a package of concessions that included $10 million in wage and benefit cuts.
New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe , has said it will now have to impose a 23 percent pay cut on Globe union staff beginning next week in order to keep the paper functioning.
Said guild president Daniel Totten said of the vote:

"With today's vote, members of the Boston Newspaper Guild have said that The New York Times Company must do better than the offer that was presented. Globe workers and the New England community understand that the quality of The Boston Globe, an institution so vital to the life and culture of the region, depends on the fair treatment of the men and women who work so hard to produce it."

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NY Times union tentatively agrees to pay cuts

The Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom employees at The New York Times, has agreed in principle to a five percent pay cut on union employees, according to an article on the Times' website.

The company has said that the pay reduction would save $4.5 million and avert the elimination of about 80 jobs, mostly in the newsroom. But the union, in reaching the agreement, did not win assurances from the company that there definitely would not be layoffs through the end of the year. If employees are laid off during the period, however, severance packages would be paid based on employees’ salaries before the reduction.

Union members will vote on the pay cut next week. The move comes as the Times is looking for ways to save money after losing nearly $75 million in the first quarter of the year.
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Star Tribune, union agree on tentative deal

The Star Tribune, currently working through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has reached a tentative deal with its newsroom union, according to MinnPost.com.

Workers who remain will get a 3 percent wage scale cut, a 30 percent across-the-board merit pay reduction (most of the newsroom gets so-called "overscale"), two furlough days a year for the next two years, and a pension freeze. Pension savings is not included in the $1.7 million the Star Tribune will save.

According to the article, Star Tribune management was not able to get rid of seniority when it comes to layoffs.
However, the union did agree to let management save a "small number" of less-senior employees in the event of more layoffs, so the seniority rule is no longer as concrete as it once was.
The agreement is expected to save the paper just under $1.7 million, plus pension savings.
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