Boston Globe employees protest job outsourcing to India

Mumbai: The 1000-strong Boston Globe employees union, Boston Newspaper Guild, backed by labour unions and local labour leaders in Massachusetts staged protest at the outsourcing of jobs to India by the New York Times Company.

The New York Times Company, which owns the Boston Globe, had recently announced the elimination of over 120 jobs at the newspaper. Of these, 55 jobs in advertising and finance will be outsourced to India.

The job cuts came less than a month after Boston Newspaper Guild members signed a four-year contract containing no guaranteed wage increases and significantly reduced employee healthcare payments.

The protest came on a day when the Boston Globe had previously scheduled a business symposium titled, 'How to attract and keep good workers.'

"The hypocrisy of the New York Times Company is staggering," said Dan Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild. "We are here today to call for a stop to the slash and burn policies of this absentee landlord."

"Despite employees' good-faith approval less than two months ago of a four-year contract containing difficult wage freezes and in increases in healthcare costs, Boston Globe employees are now faced with the indignity and outrage of seeing their jobs shipped overseas," said Totten.