This will be a bit of a tough week to blog (in theory, I’m on vacation…ha!!!) but you will get what I can sneak in here. Today, my heart goes out to the journalists at The Boston Globe:

Months of labor acrimony at The Boston Globe will come to a head on Monday, when members of the newspaper’s largest union are to vote on deep cuts in wages, benefits and job security, amid growing signs that they could well reject the deal.

The paper has said that if employees reject the package, it will cut their pay 23 percent. The union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, has vowed to challenge a unilateral reduction with federal regulators — though it may not be able to block one from taking effect — raising the prospect of continued conflict with The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Company.

Two months ago, the company said it would close the money-losing Globe, New England’s largest news organization, unless unions made painful concessions to pare expenses. In recent weeks, after settling with most of the unions, executives have played down the threat of closure, talking instead about the unilateral pay cut, though they warn that a shutdown remains an option if the company cannot achieve cost-cutting goals.

   Hard to see how this has a happy outcome. I remember some years ago marching outside the Globe’s headquarters protesting the awful contract the Globe had imposed on its freelance contributors. We didn’t win there–and I fear for the future of the folks who are the heart-and-soul of that paper.