S.F. Chronicle to cut 90 driver jobs

Posted by Emily Dilling on April 20, 2009 at 5:49 AM

The Union representing the San Francisco Chronicle's delivery truck drivers has conceded to 90 to 100 job cuts, SFGate.com reported.

The Union approved a contract that proposes reducing the driving staff to approximately 130, as opposed to the original proposal which eliminated drivers making home deliveries altogether. The newly ratified contract maintains that drivers can make deliveries to San Francisco homes, but stipulates that subcontracted employees can make deliveries in suburban areas.

Laid off employees have been offered two weeks of severance pay for every year they've worked for the company, for up to 52 weeks, according to SFGate.com

Projected savings resulting from the job cuts is estimated to be US$5 million to $6 million a year, a reduction that the Chronicle's publisher and chairman Frank Vega said "provides crucial cost-cutting and savings."

The driver layoffs follow the California Media Workers Guild allowing the paper to eliminate 150 jobs, mostly through voluntary buyouts. The cutbacks are in response to the paper's parent company, Hearst Corp. threatening to close or sell the paper if it couldn't implement swift cost-cutting reforms.