US newspaper Boston Globe's mgmt threatens shutdown

The management of The Boston Globe has threatened to begin the process of shutting down the newspaper in a dispute with its unions over $20 million in cuts.      

The Globe's management says it has given its biggest union a copy of a notice it was prepared to file Monday if it was unable to agree on the concessions by midnight yesterday. The 60-day shutdown notice is required under federal law.The deadline passed without word from the unions or the paper's owner, the New York Times Co.

The newspaper's largest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, calls the move a "bullying" tactic by the Times Co.The Times Co last month threatened to close the Globe unless its unions agreed to $20 million in cuts, including half from the Newspaper Guild.