'Substantive' Contract Talks at 'Boston Globe' Resume at 3 p.m.

By: Joe Strupp After some 13 hours of talks Monday between The Boston Globe's management and The Boston Newspaper Guild, both sides are not set to meet again today until 3 p.m., according to a memo from Boston Newspaper Guild President Dan Totten to members. It reads:

Dear BNG member;

The BNG executive committee met with NYT/Globe yesterday from 11am until 12:15am this morning.

Talks continue today at 3pm at the Labor Guild and we remain hopeful.

We'll be in touch with further communication as these talks progress.

In Unity,
Dan Totten

The talks are aimed at resolving the ongoing contract dispute, which included the union rejecting a proposal last week that included an 8.3% salary cut and unpaid furloughs and the newspaper planning to invoke a 23% pay cut this week.

Spokespeople for both guild and management described the talks as "substantive." The union Tuesday afternoon revealed it had postponed until Thursday a meeting with the National Labor Relations Board to discuss a potential complaint over the 23% salary cut.

Scott Allen, a Globe reporter and member of the union's governing board, declined to comment on the NLRB action. But he said of the negotiations: "I had an impression yesterday that both sides seemed committed to reach some sort of compromise."