Boston Globe’s largest union set to vote for 2nd time on contract with deep wage, benefit cuts

Boston Globe union to vote again on new contract

BOSTON — Members of The Boston Globe’s largest labor union will decide this week whether to accept a new contract that makes deep cuts to wages and benefits.

Monday’s vote will be the second in two months for the Boston Newspaper Guild, which narrowly rejected a similar deal in June.

The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co., wants $10 million in annual concessions from the union to improve the finances of the struggling newspaper. When the Guild rejected the first offer, the Times Co. instituted a 23 percent wage cut.

The new contract would cut salaries by 5.94 percent, compared with 8.3 percent in the previous proposal. Both contract proposals include unpaid furloughs, a pension freeze, a reduction in health care benefits and the elimination of roughly 190 lifetime job guarantees.