Posted on 01/02/2007 10:51:30 AM PST by abb
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday began a round of long-expected layoffs amid a drop in circulation and ad revenue.
Several reporters at the Inquirer, Pennsylvania's largest newspaper, said they were told Tuesday morning that their jobs were being eliminated. The employees said that they were told to meet with personnel officials on Wednesday to discuss details of their severance pay and health benefits.
The specific number of layoffs is still unclear because some Inquirer employees have already taken other jobs since word of the impending layoffs was announced in November. Neither company spokesman Jay Devine nor Inquirer editor Bill Marimow immediately returned calls seeking comment.
The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News were long part of Knight Ridder Inc., which was sold in March to McClatchy Co. McClatchy sold the Philadelphia papers three months later in a deal worth $562 million to Philadelphia Media Holdings, an investment group led by Brian Tierney, a former advertising executive who is now the papers' chief executive and publisher.
In November, Tierney announced that declining ad revenues would require contract concessions and that layoffs in the 415-worker newsroom were unavoidable as the company aimed to save at least $20 million.
Circulation has been on a sharp decline, with weekday figures at the Inquirer down 7.6 percent to nearly 331,000 in the six months ended Sept. 30.
The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, which represents more than 900 editorial, advertising, circulation and clerical employees at the Inquirer and Daily News, ratified a new contract last month.
Union leaders and members were unhappy about some terms of the three-year contract, including changes in sick-day benefits, the role of seniority during layoffs, and pension contributions - all concessions that came amid the looming layoffs.
Layoffs were not expected at the Daily News.
"There was a land of Publishers and Editors called the Newspaper Business... Here in this pretty world Journalism took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Reporters and their Enablers, of Anonymous Sources and of Stringers... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization Gone With the Wind..."
With apologies to Margaret Mitchell...
"But what we do is sooo important!!!!?
Ping
New Layoffs in Philly Prompt Guild Advisories
By Joe Strupp
Published: January 02, 2007 1:40 PM ET
NEW YORK Two weeks after Newspaper Guild members at Philadelphia's two newspapers avoided a strike and signed onto a new agreement, many staffers are bracing for layoffs, with some reportedly arriving already today. Rumors of job cuts have been swirling at the newsrooms of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News since last week, according to some guild leaders.
The Associated Press reports this afternoon that the Inquirer began a round of layoffs today. Several reporters at the Inquirer said they were told Tuesday morning that their jobs were being eliminated, according to AP. The employees said that they were told to meet with personnel officials on Wednesday to discuss details of their severance pay and health benefits.
"The specific number of layoffs is still unclear because some Inquirer employees have already taken other jobs since word of the impending layoffs was announced in November," the AP reports.
The expectation of layoffs, which several guild members have pegged at 80 positions at the Inquirer, prompted an e-mail from Inquirer Columnist Tom Ferrick to guild members on Dec. 28. It offered a Q&A about how to handle a layoff notice.
"As we all know, layoff notices are expected next week and could come as early as Tuesday (Jan. 2), so I am sending this memo in advance to inform you of some basics," the e-mail from Ferrick said. "This FAQ is intended for those who may receive layoff notices." The memo went on to remind rank-and-file members of their rights, including the fact that most employees must receive a 30-day notice, that they are entitled to severance pay, and where to file for unemployment insurance. Ferrick could not be reached for comment.
A second memo from Ferrick went out today, noting that "The Guild has received no official notification, but it is obvious the layoffs are underway." It went on to advise those thinking of taking a voluntary layoff. "It may be something to consider if you were thinking of retiring or quitting this year, if you have another job on the line, or if you simply want to move on at this juncture in the Inquirer’s history," the memo said, in part. "It is especially advantageous if you have been here more than 16 years and are eligible for full 40 weeks severence but you are below age 60. As a voluntary, you will get the full 40 weeks. If you quit, say, 3 or 4 months from now, your severence would be greatly reduced."
Some guild officials said that several employees had reported seeing a list of potential layoff targets, with others claiming they had been told by editors that they "may be on a list."
"When I checked with the Guild office on Friday, they had not yet been given required official notice of pending layoffs," Henry Holcomb, president of the Greater Philadelphia Newspaper Guild, told E&P in an e-mail earlier today. "At a meeting on another topic, management mentioned that layoffs were still in the works but declined to give specific number or say when we'd get required notice."
The layoff talk followed Publisher Brian Tierney's announcement last fall that up to 150 job cuts could be coming to stem financial problems at the papers. Tierney's Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the former Knight Ridder papers from McClatchy last summer. Tierney and a spokesman for the company, Jay Devine, did not immediately return calls on Tuesday.
The papers' 900-member guild unit ratified a new three-year contract on Dec. 18 after a bitter negotiation battle that nearly led to a strike. Even with its approval, the guild slammed the new contract for what members contend were negative changes in sick time, pensions, and seniority rules. The guild was one of 10 unions at the paper to approve new contracts at the end of 2006.
Layoffs follow last year's 80-person job cut at the Inquirer.
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.
Links referenced within this article
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Have something to say? I don't care (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)
Who said that we never get good news from the msm?
I stopped the Inquirer years ago. They called all the time to offer special prices and deals. Each and every time the caller was told why we terminated the paper at our home and business. They backed every crooked Democrat administraion, never bothered to serve anyone but themselves. Advertising was too expensive. The buyers of the paper should have asked former readers why they cancelled. I am afraid they cannot turn that mess around.
This one deserves a schadenfraude alert...
Ping--Goodbye to Anne Gordon, Auth, Satullo, Harold Jackson, assignment editors and the copy editors. Maybe circulation will rise. lol
Too all those sobbing reporters, "May the Farce be with you."
It must totally suck to have absolutely NO marketable skills in 'The Best Economy Ever!'
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. :)
- - - and, the Wall Street Journal is now shrunken to the size of the dying MSM papers!
I told them flat out:
"Your newspaper is biased too far to the left. It isn't just your editorial page - I could live with that. The issue is your paper is unprofessional because your reporting is leftist propaganda masquerading as news."
The person on the phone hung up on me.
It is hard to have sympathy for them now.
Why that PI cover?
No particular reason.
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