NY Times 'Bullies' To File Notice Shuttering Boston Globe

This is like watching the Crips and Bloods in a street fight. Both parties are so loathsome you can't root for a winner. You just hope they inflict enough wounds they both eventually die off.

The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

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 move could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further concessions from the Globe's unions, since the notice does not require the Times Co. to close the paper after 60 days. The deadline, however, would put the unions under fierce pressure to produce additional savings, and 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.

A couple of weeks ago we noted how John Kerry was lamenting the loss of his local newspaper. I guess he hasn't convinced his wife to pony up the $20 million to keep it open.

More here.

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Another Black Eye for the NY Times

As the New York Times continues to hemorrhage money and the Boston Globe appears headed for the dustbin (unless John Kerry can bail them out), we now have the entertaining spectacle of greedy executives at the Old Grey Hag getting fat pay hikes while employees fret about their future.

This is just too delicious.

Here's an idea for the staffers. Since the Times is always in a high dudgeon over executive bonuses at profitable companies, how about they go protest outside the lavish home of their bosses?

As the New York Times struggles to hold onto its dwindling pile of cash, its board is getting slammed by angry employees for hiking top executive pay as much as 35 percent.

Employees face 5 percent pay cuts at the flagship newspaper, while its sister Boston Globe is under the threat of a permanent shutdown unless its employees accept steep pay cuts and layoffs worth $20 million to management.

"At one point in the negotiations, the company proposed eliminating all sick days for Guild members, like an Alabama sweat shop," wrote Globe reporter Brian Mooney on HuffingtonPost.com

How humiliating must it be that these Globe writers are reduced to posting at the web's house organ for hate?

The Times woes grew yesterday as Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating deeper in junk territory.

The downgrade could hike the Times' already high interest costs on corporate borrowing, such as the 14 percent rate on the $250 million the Times borrowed in January from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu to make ends meet. The Times also paid an extra $4.5 million to close the deal.

Blogs continued blistering Times brass and the Sulzberger-family dominated board for hiking management perks and pay while squeezing employees.

CEO Janet Robinson, for example, won a 35 percent jump in total compensation to $5.58 million this year from $4.14 million in '08, according to filings.