Globe Union Sees Greed in Cuts
By Jay Fitzgerald
Boston Herald.com
Thursday 22 September 2005
The Boston Globe's employee union has issued a call to arms to protest proposed job cuts and what it calls rampant "corporate greed" on a par with "Enron" and excessive executive pay at the New York Times Co.
In a statement issued to the Herald, the president of the 1,200-member Globe newspaper union also took swings at Boston's self-described "piñata" - James Kilts, chief executive of the Gillette Co. and a recent addition to the board of directors at the Times Co., the Globe's corporate parent.
"We are certain this (staff-reduction) action has been embraced by Gillette's Jim Kilts," said Dan Totten in a statement.
In June, when the Gillette boss joined the Times board, the Globe union wrote a letter in protest saying "the appointment of Kilts raises the obvious question if he will find profits by cutting employees."
A planned employee cookout today for Globe members of the Boston Newspaper Guild will be turned into a rallying point for employees. Globe staffers are upset with Tuesday's announcement that 160 jobs will be cut within the Times' New England units, most of them at the Boston Globe, including 35 within the newspaper's newsroom.
Amid declining revenue, the Times Co. plans to slash a total of 500 jobs, or 4 percent of its work force, including 45 within The New York Times newsroom.
Globe publisher Richard Gilman hit back at the union yesterday.
"The Guild leadership is resorting to wild accusations in a manner that accomplishes nothing of value at this time," said Gilman in a statement. "We need to deal with the difficult decisions that impact our valued employees, and as always we believe it is best to discuss such matters directly with the Guild."
In his statement and a later interview with the Herald, a frustrated Totten said employees were informed of planned cutbacks through a "typical cold and insensitive manner: through e-mail."
Totten blasted the staff cutbacks at a time when Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. "takes a limousine to work that has his name emblazoned on it," and top executives take home millions in compensation.
"There is something drastically wrong," he said. "Under the circumstances, the company is not so far removed from the corporate greed that we've seen from the likes of Enron & Worldcom," both companies embroiled in past corporate scandals.
He questioned the Times' "Streamline to Grow" strategy at a time when the Times "preaches ethics and family workplace values daily."
In his criticism of the planned staff cutbacks, Totten also revealed that the union leadership bitterly opposed Kilts' inclusion on the Times' board of directors last June, amid controversy in Boston about the proposed sale of Gillette.
Kilts has since publicly blasted the city's "negative" attitude and slammed media coverage of Gillette, including the Globe's.
Link Here
Boston Herald.com
Thursday 22 September 2005
The Boston Globe's employee union has issued a call to arms to protest proposed job cuts and what it calls rampant "corporate greed" on a par with "Enron" and excessive executive pay at the New York Times Co.
In a statement issued to the Herald, the president of the 1,200-member Globe newspaper union also took swings at Boston's self-described "piñata" - James Kilts, chief executive of the Gillette Co. and a recent addition to the board of directors at the Times Co., the Globe's corporate parent.
"We are certain this (staff-reduction) action has been embraced by Gillette's Jim Kilts," said Dan Totten in a statement.
In June, when the Gillette boss joined the Times board, the Globe union wrote a letter in protest saying "the appointment of Kilts raises the obvious question if he will find profits by cutting employees."
A planned employee cookout today for Globe members of the Boston Newspaper Guild will be turned into a rallying point for employees. Globe staffers are upset with Tuesday's announcement that 160 jobs will be cut within the Times' New England units, most of them at the Boston Globe, including 35 within the newspaper's newsroom.
Amid declining revenue, the Times Co. plans to slash a total of 500 jobs, or 4 percent of its work force, including 45 within The New York Times newsroom.
Globe publisher Richard Gilman hit back at the union yesterday.
"The Guild leadership is resorting to wild accusations in a manner that accomplishes nothing of value at this time," said Gilman in a statement. "We need to deal with the difficult decisions that impact our valued employees, and as always we believe it is best to discuss such matters directly with the Guild."
In his statement and a later interview with the Herald, a frustrated Totten said employees were informed of planned cutbacks through a "typical cold and insensitive manner: through e-mail."
Totten blasted the staff cutbacks at a time when Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. "takes a limousine to work that has his name emblazoned on it," and top executives take home millions in compensation.
"There is something drastically wrong," he said. "Under the circumstances, the company is not so far removed from the corporate greed that we've seen from the likes of Enron & Worldcom," both companies embroiled in past corporate scandals.
He questioned the Times' "Streamline to Grow" strategy at a time when the Times "preaches ethics and family workplace values daily."
In his criticism of the planned staff cutbacks, Totten also revealed that the union leadership bitterly opposed Kilts' inclusion on the Times' board of directors last June, amid controversy in Boston about the proposed sale of Gillette.
Kilts has since publicly blasted the city's "negative" attitude and slammed media coverage of Gillette, including the Globe's.
Link Here
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