NY Times newsroom braces for involuntary cuts
By Leah McBride Mensching, Friday 25 April 2008 at 23:50 :: Labor & Employment :: #1585 :: rss
Editorial staff at The New York Times are bracing themselves for layoffs in the next 10 days, the New York Post reported Friday.
About 50 unionized journalists have accepted buyout offers, and another 20 non-union journalists have done the same. This means “the ax could fall on as many as 30 editorial people in the company's first-ever mass firing of journalists in its 156-year history,” the Post reported.
A poor ad market led Executive Editor William Keller to cut 100 editorial jobs, and urged people to take a buy-out offer. A week ago, Assistant Managing Editor William Schmidt sent a memo stating he was nearly positive the company will have to make involuntary job cuts. “With just 70 people stepping forward for buyouts, it is very likely that 30 newsroom staffers will be forced out in coming days,” the Post article stated.
“We're bracing for it,” the Post quoted an “insider with some knowledge of the developments” as saying.
The deadline for non-union employees to accept buyouts was Monday, and Tuesday for unionized employees. Buyout deals offer three weeks severance pay for each year worked.
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