Dayton Daily News editorial workers on Tuesday received a boost of support from a U.S. senator in their quest to receive a new contract, as employees have been working under a contract ratified in 1986, the Associated Press reported.

“I stand with you as you fight for this,” U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told the 75 people gathered outside newspaper offices, including editorial workers, city officials and labour leaders.

More

The Washington Post released terms of previously announced employee buyouts Wednesday. Its new publisher Katharine Weymouth added that if there is no enough staff participated, layoffs were possible, The Post reported Thursday.

Last month the paper announced its buyout offers, or "voluntary early retirement incentive programmes," to its employees to reduce costs. The plan just released targets employees who aren't eligible to be members of the Newspaper Guild, typically editors and other managers.

More

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and Maine Today have announced job cuts. The Post-Dispatch will eliminate 31 jobs, while the Press Herald will cut 27 positions, which includes 15 layoffs.

Newsroom jobs will be spared at the Post-Dispatch, while the cuts will mainly take place in the circulation department, the classified phone rooms, the production department, purchasing, telephone operations and the marketing department. The paper said the cuts include some management positions, but no specific number was given, according to Editor & Publisher.

More

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald violated federal labour laws when it fired two reporters and suspended another for engaging in union activities, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

The daily paper in Hilo, Hawaii fired the two reporters in 2005 and 2006.

More

The Chinese Daily news will appeal a court ruling that awarded former and current employees back pay for overtime violations, stating that the judge has “blatant biases and (made) judicial errors,” New America Media reported Friday.

Two hundred current and former newspaper employees filed the lawsuit against the Monterey Park, Calif.-based newspaper in March 2004. The Chinese Daily News is the Southern California edition of the World Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers in the United States.

More

The Bay Area News Group-East Bay will cut its staff levels in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area by 10 percent, and will avoid layoffs because enough employees took buyout offers, the Associated Press reported late Thursday.

Of the company's 1,100 employees, 107 from took buyouts, cutting staff numbers at the Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times and 14 other daily and weekly newspapers. The cuts will be seen in all departments.

More

The San Luis Obispo Tribune will outsource five advertising production jobs to a San Jose-based company with employees in India, The Tribune reported Thursday.

“This is a painful decision,’’ said publisher Chip Visci, according to The Tribune. “The five employees directly affected are valued colleagues with a lot of talent. Each of them has served Tribune customers well.’’

More

An unofficial list on Los Angeles Times newsroom staffers who have applied for a buyout has been published by LA Observed.

It is unknown who, if any, on the list were asked to take a buyout, and some applications may be declined, although David Hiller, the paper's publisher, has said in the past that anyone who wants to leave will be able to take the buyout.

More

The Press-Telegram and Daily Breeze, two newspapers owned by MediaNews Group Inc., will cut staff and combine their Internet, copy editing and pagination operations due to sagging ad revenue, an editor said Monday.

The move involves nine job cuts at the Daily Breeze, located in Torrance, Calif., and about 10 at the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

More

The Gauteng and Free State editions of Media24's Afrikaans tabloid Son will close, as growth outlooks don't look promising, the Daily Dispatch reported Monday.

Closing the editions “was based on a combination of market- related factors, including the increasingly weaker growth prospects that these editions faced under tighter economic conditions,” according to a Media24 statement.

More

The deadline for New York Times newsroom employees to accept buyouts is Tuesday, in an attempt by the newspaper to shrink the newsroom by 100 positions. The buyouts, however, are viewed by some inside The Times as “a victory of sorts,” Portfolio.com reported Monday.

The business side of the newspaper has “taken a majority of the hits so far, while the newsroom has stayed untouched,” an unnamed source close to business management at The Times told Portfolio.

More