Guild leaders get fat with pay hikes

May 05, 2009 (Boston Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NYT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Beleaguered leaders of the Boston Globe's biggest union -- under fire for failing to strike a concession deal with the paper's out-of-town overlords -- have themselves received generous pay hikes over the past three years -- even as their members have gone without a raise, according to federal filings.

As recently as March, Boston Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten noted union members haven't had a raise since 2006 as he slammed Globe and New York Times Co. management for getting an extra two weeks paid vacation in exchange for accepting a 5 percent pay cut.

"The BNG is now in its fourth year of a wage freeze. Yet today, The NYT and Globe announced a five percent wage cut for managers, who will also receive an additional 10 personal days," Totten said in a March 30 statement. "The Guild believes this is an affront to the workers who work without pay raises and perks every day."

Records show that Totten's Guild salary has jumped 12 percent in three years, from $87,482 in 2006 to $97,929 in 2007 to $98,076 in 2008.

Collectively, the pay of the Guild's seven executive committee officers has almost doubled since 2005, jumping from $95,739 to $178,655 last year.

Totten, who could not be reached last night, went from part-time in 2005 to full-time the following year.

A spokesman for Totten declined to comment.

"I think it's unconscionable that union leadership is not suffering the same cuts that we are," said one Guild member who has seen the filings and didn't want to be identified.

While union members are presenting a united front in public, Totten's refusal to put lifetime job guarantees on the table has rekindled resentment among some rank-and-file members behind the scenes.

About 190 Guild members have the plum perk, including Totten and three other top Guild leaders.

Totten has chosen to ignore the lifetime job guarantees since day one, according to the same Guild member.

"Dan Totten is in a near impossible position, having to negotiate away his own job guarantee and possibly his own job to save the Globe, but it remains to be seen whether he will do that," the member said.

Guild leaders resume negotiations today. Talks broke down yesterday after the Times Co. refused the Guild's final proposal.

The union, which represents more than 700 reporters, editors, salespeople and other staffers, has come up with $10 million in givebacks.

The embattled broadsheet's three other major unions, representing the paper's mailers, pressmen and delivery truck drivers, have all met management's concession demands.

The mailers have also agreed to modify their members' lifetime job guarantees, which could make them vulnerable to layoffs.

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