cryptogon.com

After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

The company and union had set a deadline of midnight last night to forge an agreement. But negotiations continued until 8 a.m. and the company fashioned agreements with the unions representing mailers and drivers during the extended talks, the Associated Press reported. However, talks with other unions, including the Boston Newspaper Guild, are expected to continue later this week.

The threatened shutdown could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further union concessions, since the notice does not require the Times Co. to close the paper after 60 days.
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But it puts the unions under fierce pressure to produce additional savings; the Boston Newspaper Guild promptly called the step a “bullying” tactic by the company.

Some industry observers have expressed skepticism that Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. would want his legacy to include the shuttering of the Globe, which his company bought in 1993.

But the Times Co. itself is under strong financial pressure. It recently mortgaged its new Manhattan headquarters, borrowed $250 million from a Mexican billionaire at 14 percent interest, laid off 100 newsroom staffers and cut salaries by 5 percent.

Globe management said in a toughly worded statement: “Filing the WARN notice is a difficult step that we would like to avoid. But, unfortunately, given the state of the negotiations, it is one we must be prepared to take.”