Meltdown at the Boston Newspaper Guild?
I will confess that I have been following contretemps within the Boston Newspaper Guild from afar, at best. But from the looks of an e-mail sent to Guild members this afternoon and obtained by the Phoenix’s Adam Reilly, it appears that a total meltdown is under way.
Dan Totten, the controversial president who led the union in talks with the Boston Globe’s corporate owner, the New York Times Co., during the spring and summer, has had his financial authority suspended, and an audit is being conducted, according to the e-mail from the Guild’s executive board.
This comes on top of a recall effort led by some Globe staffers who have accused Totten of inadequate communication — which another way of saying that the $10 million in concessions approved during the summer cut health benefits by considerably more than union members say they’d been led to believe.
“another way of saying that the $10 million in concessions approved during the summer cut health benefits by considerably more than union members say they’d been led to believe.”
Seriously? Would some of these “Globe staffers” happen to be reporters? They need to read communications sent to them more carefully. The union membership was informed several times of the consequences of the $10MM cuts. They initially voted down the 8% wage decrease because it was “too much”. So they wage decrease ended up being 5.9%. Guess where the other 2% came from? These holier than thou Globe reporters need to get a grip on reality.
Let us not confuse sour grapes with meltdown.
Amused: We could be having a meltdown over sour grapes. Believe me, I’m not taking sides in this one — at least not until we know a lot more.