COLONIE Times Union plans layoffs in effort to cut costs 20 percent BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
The Times Union plans to lay off employees as part of an effort to cut the paper’s costs by 20 percent while searching for a way to make the newspaper industry profi table, Publisher George Hearst said in an interview. “The motivation should be understood to be no less than fighting for your survival,” he said, noting that on Friday the Pulitzer Prizewinning Rocky Mountain News published its last edition. He said cuts must be made to keep the Times Union and other newspapers from following the Rocky into oblivion. “We will not accept that at the Times Union. We will do what it takes to be viable to maintain an open and free democracy. That is the mission,” he said. “There will be generations after us if we today, the stewards of our time, responsible for this great enterprise, do our jobs.” Hearst Corp., the Times Union’s parent company, is also negotiating for lower bulk prices on utilities and is cutting back on its proposed new Albany press, which was to cost $55.3 million. An upgrade will still be made, “in some form,” Hearst said. “We’re looking at a lot of solutions,” Hearst said. “This is traumatic.” The decision to turn to layoffs comes on top of a series of buyouts, announced last May, that reduced the paper’s workforce by about 50 people. It now employs 453, down from 600 in 2001. The Hearst Corp. has also put the Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale and announced that it may fold the San Francisco Chronicle if it cannot get significant union concessions. In addition, it cut the Houston Chronicle staff by 10 percent. At the same time, Hearst is still buying newspapers. The corporation recently bought four dailies and six weeklies in Connecticut. “If run properly and integrated effectively into the community and the fabric of the market they serve, they can be quite an attractive business,” Hearst said. “They provide a critical mission.” At the Times Union, layoffs won’t happen immediately. Under the union contract, the paper must either give 45 days’ notice or pay laid-off workers for 45 days. The period is intended to give the union time to offer concessions to avoid job cuts. Albany Newspaper Guild President Tim O’Brien said Friday that “The company has said there will be layoffs and has not given us any information in terms of numbers,” O’Brien said. “All we know is, layoffs are coming.” On Friday, the union offered unpaid furloughs and agreed to let the newspaper outsource some work to avoid layoffs. But later that day, George Hearst announced that some workers must be laid off. The Guild has been negotiating — and blogging about — a new contract with Hearst, leading union officials to quickly blog about possible layoffs. “No one would want to be bargaining a contract in this economy, but then again our Newspaper Guild local was born in the darkest days of the Depression 75 years ago next month,” they wrote Wednesday in a union blog post that explained why the union would offer concessions. “Some might argue unions are not needed any more, especially as companies fight to stave off fiscal disaster. We believe our long and proud history shows that unions................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00602
Times Union prepares to cut up to 45 jobs; union prepares to fight Friday, June 19, 2009 By Kathy Bowen (Contact) Gazette Reporter
COLONIE — As many as 45 jobs will soon be eliminated at the Times Union, according to the publisher of the newspaper, who said the company must cut its operational costs 20 percent. Albany Newspaper Guild President Tim O’Brien said the union is ready to challenge the job cuts in court. Guild members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s contract proposal Monday, and Publisher George Hearst said the consequence of the action is an impasse. “We made our best and final offer. We have to move forward now and try to make smart decisions on how to lean-up the cost of the business,” Hearst said. The jobs to be cut would be union and nonunion positions, including editorial and advertising staffers, he said. The company has rejected the idea of cutting salaries or imposing unpaid furloughs and will instead cut positions. “We are going to ask the people who are left to step up and do more work. It wouldn’t be fair to cut their salaries too,” he said. O’Brien said the union is concerned for long-term employees who are at the top of the company pay scale and close to retirement. “If someone is close to but not yet 55, they could lose half of their pension if they are laid off now,” he said.................>>>>...............>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jun/19/0619tu/
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