Boston Globe to Close

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. – from Washington Post

Unions representing Boston Globe employees continued to negotiate with the newspaper’s management well past midnight Sunday, the deadline to agree to concessions to cut the paper’s losses and avoid its closure. Less than three hours before the deadline, the Boston Globe’s largest union said it had presented a proposal to management that cuts costs by more than what is necessary to avoid closing the newspaper. The Globe, which is owned by New York Times Co., said it had told its unions it is prepared to file notice on Monday under the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires 60 days’ advance notice before closure of a business. Management’s statement, issued shortly after the union’s, suggests the two sides might not be as close to an agreement as union leaders had indicated. – from WSJ

An hour after the midnight deadline passed, negotiations had broken down, but likely will resume sometime during the night, a source familiar with the matter, but not authorized to discuss it, told Reuters. That source and another source familiar with the matter indicated that the bargaining process likely will continue throughout the night, and that word on a decision about what will happen to the Globe will wait until after daybreak in the United States. – from Reuters

The Boston Globe received an eleventh-hour reprieve early this morning when its owner, the New York Times Co., agreed to extend the deadline for unions to agree to $20 million in concessions until tomorrow. – from Boston Globe

Gregory L. Thornton, a Globe senior vice president for human resources and management’s chief negotiator, said this morning that “substantial progress” had been made after a marathon bargaining session.

The New York Times Co. issued an ultimatum last night, saying it was prepared to begin the process of shuttering the 137-year-old newspaper if its unions do not agree to major financial and contract concessions, including the abolition of lifetime job guarantees for some workers. The closing process would be triggered by a filing, notifying the state of its intention to shut the Globe within 60 days. – from The Globe