The Star-Ledger announces new round of buyouts

Posted by Clara Martínez Turco on September 8, 2010 at 9:10 AM

New Jersey's largest newspaper, The Star-Ledger, will cut salaries and offer voluntary buyouts to employees in a move aimed to reduce costs, The Associated Press reported yesterday.

The Newark daily, which is owned by Advance Publications, is expected to lose US$10 million this year as advertising revenues continue to decrease, publisher Richard Vezza said in memo sent to the staff (reproduced by Poynter Online). In 2009, the company's losses reached $9 million.

This the third round of buyouts since 2008, when Advance Publications threatened "to close or sell the Star-Ledger if it didn't get at least 200 buyouts from the paper's then-756 non-union full-time workers," Editor & Publisher explained. So far 300 employees have left.

The buyout plan is available for non-union employees hired before January 1, 2006, and it includes one year of salary and medical benefits. The company will also restructure salaries "based on job duties and what newspapers of a similar size and situation are paying for those jobs," Vezza wrote.

In an interview with the AP, the publisher declined to estimate the number of employees that will apply but explained that this measures are the first step of a budget review. "If we can negotiate our way to the other end, when things return to normal, we're going to be in good shape," Vezza told The Star-Ledger.