Q2: More Layoffs, Job Cuts, Pay Cuts, And Furloughs

 

AUSTIN, TX (March 23, 2009) – As newspaper executives are seeing 2009's upcoming Q2 numbers they say that things aren't getting any better, they're getting worse, and as a result more layoffs, job cuts, pay cuts, and furloughs are making headlines at newspapers and television stations around the country today.

Today newspaper and broadcast companies Gannett, Advance, McClatchy, E.W. Scripps, Belo and others made moves in reaction to worsening revenues and dismal financial forecasts.

Monday morning's eMail for Gannett employees included a message from CEO Craig Dubow that began, "We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn ... Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we've been faced with more difficult decisions."

Dubow informed Gannett workers that they will experience a second round of mandatory furloughs, at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May, or June, and that unlike the Q1 furloughs these unpaid days off will vary in length depending on geographic location, and higher paid employees will be asked to make "an additional sacrifice" (which could include a second week off and/or pay cuts).

The mandatory furloughs include Gannett corporate workers, not just newspaper employees, including Dubow, and the CEO says they decided to do furloughs again in an attempt to avoid laying off workers or eliminating jobs.

At the Scripps-owned Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN, 48 workers are this week in the process of losing their jobs (20 from editorial, and four from photograph and design staffs).

While three newspapers in eastern Michigan owned by Advance announced today that they are going to three-days-a-week printing – and another Advance paper in Ann Arbor this morning announced that they are going entirely to the Web only -– Advance workers also learned today that the company has ordered 10-day furloughs and a pension freeze at almost all of its newspapers outside of Michigan. Advance Publications is the parent company of Newhouse Newspapers, and the furloughs will be at their properties that include The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; The Star-Ledger in Newark, NJ; The Oregonian in Portland; The Staten Island Advance in New York; and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

At the McClatchy-owned Charlotte Observer, 60 full-time and 22 part-time employees will lose their jobs in North Carolina and those who remain working will experience pay cuts. The latest round of Observer job cuts eliminates about 15 percent of the workforce. The newsroom will account for 19 of the full-time jobs and 11 of the part-time jobs lost in Charlotte, publisher Ann Caulkins said.

Home of major banks, including Bank of America, Charlotte has been hard hit by both the banking crisis and the advertising crash. "This is a day I've been dreading," Caulkins told the newspaper staff.

Meanwhile in Lexington, KY, the Lexington Herald-Leader today announced that 53 employees are being laid off (49 full-time and four part-time) as a cost-cutting measure.

Publisher Timothy M. Kelly said the reduction of the staff by about 15 percent also includes a 5 percent wage reduction for remaining employees who make more than $25,000 yearly, and a 10 percent pay cut for the paper's executives (including the elimination of their bonus plans). The Herald-Leader is a McClatchy newspaper. This is the third round of layoffs at the Lexington paper in the last year.

Television has not be exempt from the same market forces that are driving newspapers down and out. Layoffs have been taking place at Belo-owned television stations including KVUE-TV in Austin, TX, where today four employees at the ABC affiliate were laid off, including morning anchor Jason Hill.

Station president and general manager Patti Smith told the Austin American-Statesman, "These are extraordinary times and we've had to make some very difficult decisions." Smith said the layoffs were part of a companywide reduction in workforce. At Belo's KENS-TV in San Antonio, 12 employees were laid off, and at Houston's KHOU-TV at least six workers were let go. Published reports say Belo is trimming 150 jobs from their broadcast outlets by next month.

 

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