Globe Deal Reached... That was Fast

And here I was ready for a holdout lasting months. Nope. No details yet, but:

The Boston Globe's largest union reached a tentative deal with the New York Times Co. shortly after 3 a.m. this morning, agreeing to a substantial pay cut, unpaid furloughs, and modifications to the lifetime job guarantee provisions that protect almost 200 employees in the Boston Newspaper Guild, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Hmm... Perhaps the 400+ people who didn't have those lifetime guarantees had something to do with it? Regardless, it would have been nice for the NYT and Globe management to be honest about this whole process -- it wasn't about the $20 million. That was window dressing - window dressing that, as I said Monday, the Globe unions already agreed on.

This was always about the job guarantees. It's tough to argue against a union that would protect those jobs -- the NYT signed on the dotted line, after all. However, if this helps facilitate a sale, then it was well worth it. The NYT has done nothing good for the Globe.

Now, the NYT has one remaining task for their role in acting as publisher and corporate daddies of the Boston Globe: facilitate a sale. They've ruined a once-great paper. They owe it to the city of Boston to find a good ownership group for this paper, preferably local ownership. The Globe needs its version of John Henry or Bob Kraft. (Or maybe they just need John Henry or Bob Kraft?) If there's any way for the NYT to save grace for its treatment of the Globe, that's it.