Boston Newspaper For Sale _ But At What Price?

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Globe's largest union postponed a meeting with the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday so members could continue talks with management over $10 million in annual wage and benefit concessions the Globe's owner says it needs to keep the newspaper going.

Talks were scheduled to resume at 3 p.m. Tuesday after 13 hours of negotiations Monday. Globe spokesman Robert Powers called Monday's talks "substantive" but said an agreement had not yet been reached.

The New York Times Co. — the owner of the Globe — in April threatened to shut down the 137-year-old newspaper if its unions did not come up with $20 million in concessions — half of that from the Guild.

Last week, after the Guild membership narrowly rejected a new contract with $10 million in concessions, management declared an impasse and imposed a 23 percent pay cut.

The Guild, which represents about 700 editorial, advertising and business employees, then filed an unfair labor complaint with the labor relations board.

A meeting on the complaint had been scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed until Thursday so the Guild and management can continue negotiations.