Sick of haggling with an uncooperative union as an irretrievably dying paper loses more money every day, the New York Times Co. has hired an investment bank to sell off the Boston Globe. Buyers: ignore the preceding sentence. Great opportunity!

The Globe's union rejected a package of cutbacks this week that management said were absolutely necessary, resulting in a 23% pay cut for everyone. Which the union is challenging as illegal.

The Globe reports that the company was planning to offer the paper for sale no matter which way the union vote went, and apparently there are some humans out there interested in maybe buying the paper, for some reason.

Bid now: you could become the owner of a paper with heavy pension liabilities, an $85 million loss this year, an intransigent unionized work force, and no real prospects for an economic turnaround! And here's the union's argument, now:

"For the Times Co. to be in a position of strength with regard to selling The Boston Globe, it will have to reach a fair wage agreement with the Boston Newspaper Guild," Totten said, "one that forgoes the punitive action of cutting the wages of members by 23 percent. This will diminish the value of the paper by forcing the very best workers to go elsewhere."

Elsewhere where?
[Pic: AP]