UPDATED: 'Boston Globe,' Guild Stretch Talks Into the Night

By: Mark Fitzgerald Talks between The Boston Globe and Boston Newspaper Guild reached a full eight-hour workday Monday evening with no comment from either side on what was being discussed.

"We're talking," Guild President Dan Totten said as he emerged briefly from the talks this afternoon, according to a Boston Herald account by Jessica Heslam.

As the hour approached 7:30 p.m. EST, a Guild spokesperson had not returned E&P inquiries about the talks and Totten could not be reached. The two sides apparently were still huddling in a meeting that began at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart School in Weymouth, Mass.

It was the first face-to-face meeting since Guild members narrowly defeated a proposal from Globe owner New York Times Co. to cut wages by 10%, permanently end retirement plan contributions and reduce other benefits, and eliminate the lifetime job guarantees granted to about 170 Guild-represented employees when the newspaper was sold.

It was also the first meeting since the Times Co. -- seeking $10 million in annual expense savings from the Globe's largest union -- said contract talks were at an impasse and that it would impose a 23% wage reduction on union employees. The Guild asserts there is no impasse and is challenging the wage cut before the National Labor Relations Board.

Times Co. and Globe management representatives headed into the meeting saying they were there simply to explain the logistics of the pay cut. The Guild said it came with an "offer of resolution," suggesting the meeting represented the resumption of negotiations. The union has not released details of the offer.

UPDATE: From Boston.com early Tuesday:

"Boston Globe management and the paper's largest union negotiated past midnight this morning and agreed to resume bargaining later today as they try to end a bitter standoff over deep wage cuts and other concessions, union and management officials said.

"What was supposed to be an information session at a labor office here to discuss a company-imposed 23 percent wage cut turned into a marathon negotiating session. Globe spokesman Robert Powers described the discussions as 'substantive.' Leaders of the Boston Newspaper Guild said they remained hopeful of an agreement. 'We discussed many issues during today's meeting with the Guild, but have not reached an agreement,' Powers said early this morning."