NYT Co. Gives Globe Unions a One-Day Extension on $20M in Concessions

The Boston Globe received an eleventh-hour reprieve early this morning when its owner, the New York Times Co., extended the deadline for unions to agree to $20 million in concessions until tomorrow, according to a Boston Globe story by Robert Gavin and Keith O'Brien.

More than a half-hour after the midnight deadline passed, Globe management said enough progress had been made in talks with unions that the Times Co. would wait at least another two days before acting on its threat to shutter the Globe. Any agreement would still have to be ratified by each union's members.

"Because there has been progress on reaching needed cost savings, The Boston Globe will extend the deadline for reaching complete agreements with its unions until midnight Sunday May 3," Globe spokesman Robert Powers said in a statement.

Globe management released the statement as negotiators from management and the Globe's largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, conducted another marathon bargaining session that began yesterday morning and stretched past midnight. The Times Co. is seeking $10 million, or half of all union concessions, from the Guild, which represents more than 600 editorial, advertising, and office workers.

"We have given the New York Times Co. and Globe management proposals for deep cuts in our members' pay and benefits that we believe will save The Boston Globe," Daniel Totten, Guild president, said in a statement. "We are awaiting the company's response."

Talks between the Guild and the company are scheduled to resume tomorrow, according to a union spokesman.