Posted on 01/18/2024 5:14:03 PM PST by Red Badger
The newspaper intends to “imminently execute another major round of layoffs,” according to the bargaining committee
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The L.A. Times Guild called an emergency meeting on Thursday after leadership was told that the newspaper intends to “imminently execute another major round of layoffs,” according to a memo.
The Bargaining Committee told members that it can’t say exactly how many staffers the company is intending to lay off, however, in the memo obtained by the New York Times, the union says “This is the Big One.”
The Times “has asked the Guild to gut seniority protections in our contract so that have vastly more freedom to pick who to lay off,” the memo continued. “If we agreed to their request, they could choose almost any member they want; in exchange, management would add another layer of buyouts and told us they would lay off 50 fewer Guild members from an unspecified total.”
“We need to reduce our operating budget going into this year and anticipate layoffs,” a spokesperson from the Times said in a statement. “The hardest decisions to make are those that impact our employees, and we do not come to any such decisions lightly.”
“We are continuing to review the revenue projections for this year and taking a very careful look at expenses and what our organization can support,” the statement continued.
The Times additionally noted that the Guild has asked for buyouts prior to executing layoffs and that leadership is seeking flexibility in conducting cuts in order to save 50 union roles.
This comes just one week after executive editor Kevin Merida left his role at the newspaper amid tension with owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. Merida took the newsroom by surprise with his decision, leaving after less than three years, five months before his contract was up.
Merida was also reportedly frustrated with Soon-Shiong’s involvement in the newsroom as well as budgeting shortcomings which eventually led to mid-year layoffs in 2023.
Layoffs were carried out by the LAT in June, where 74 roles were cut from the organization, equating to over 10% of the newsroom.
More layoffs were expected at the newspaper in 2024.
OH, NOES!!!!
Minimum wages for all might save this fine paper.
I know the circulation of the printed newspapers has been dropping a lot in recent years, but these papers are pushing internet subscriptions. Theoretically people who used to buy the printed newspaper should be signing up for the internet subscription.
Maybe nobody wants to pay for the liberal opinion page of papers such as the Times?
Save time and lay everyone off now. Inevitable.
No Worries!
They can all get jobs coding.
C’mon, Man!
Plus if you have any computer savvy at all you can backdoor access the paper around their software.
They could learn to code.
They’ll close up shop rather than adjust their outlook, their political point of view. Bend more right or to center right might actually do them some good, might right the ship but alas I doubt such a move can even be uttered in those nearly empty rooms.
Maybe they should publish a story that brings them a lot of readership. They are still hiding the Obama/Palestinian video from before 2008.
Just for giggles, maybe they should publish completely honest news and see how it goes.
The LA Times has the best Sunday crossword puzzles.
Perhaps had the LA Times been more committed to reporting the truth, they would not be in this predicament today.
The LA Times just remodeled a building in El Segundo, CA to serve as a new headquarters. They are just about finished with the project. That’s a lot of jobs to cut to pay for this building.
In Southern California our alternative has always been the formerly conservative Orange County Register. Well that is no longer an alternative. For news they use the Associated Press almost exclusively. AP might as well be an arm of the DNC. For editorial content the Register is majority liberal. Even writers who could sound reasonable at times have flipped 90% to the dark side.
The bottom line is that my 40 year subscription to the Register will not be renewed. The major problem I see is where will be able to get local news?
Democrats and truth are an oxymoron.
LAT will die,
But but but... They just endorse Shifty Schiftt for Senator. Do they not have credibility?
“”Maybe nobody wants to pay for the liberal opinion page of papers such as the Times?””
.
Oh, I don’t know about that.
Folks pay good money to be subjected to Bondage and Beatings.
.
probably won’t be too long before the LA Times is reduced to one of those old Nickle Shopper rags that they used to give away in corner paperboxes ...
the problem with converting from physical newspapers to online websites is that full page ads in physical newspapers can generate many thousands of dollars per ad, whereas ads online ads bring in hundredths of a cent per ad ... likewise, physical subscriptions run around $100/year vs online subscriptions for $9.99/year ... plus most news content is now obtained from a few aggregate sources, and such content is usually available for free from other venues ...
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