(San Jose) Mercury News layoff tally: Job cuts are trimmed to 35 (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | December 6, 2006 | Ryan Kim

[abb]

The San Jose Mercury News completed a round of layoffs Tuesday that trimmed its workforce by 35 employees in one of the first big moves under its new owner, MediaNews Group.

The layoffs, which began Monday night, came just after the company reached a tentative agreement on a labor contract with its largest union, the San Jose Newspaper Guild, Monday morning. The last-minute deal, which followed a 20-hour negotiating session, reduced the number of job cuts by more than half.

The newspaper had originally planned to cut 69 Guild jobs as part of a cost-cutting effort brought about by declining advertising revenue. Instead, the company agreed to cut 27 1/2 Guild positions and three nonunion jobs. The final tally of laid-off workers included a handful of part-time employees.

Mercury News spokesman Dan Breeden said 10 workers -- reporters, photographers, designers and copy editors -- were cut from the newsroom and 25 from business offices. The Guild said the number of laid-off editorial workers was 16 and included some additional editorial assistants.

"It's been a difficult day for all the involved people," Breeden said. "They're professionals, they're positive and they're looking forward to serving the community with a quality paper."

Union members, while relieved about the reduced cuts, were saddened by the departure of co-workers, said Becky Bartindale, local Guild president and a Mercury News education reporter.

"It's pretty grim," she said. "These are your colleagues and friends and they're out the door."

Under the two-year labor agreement, which still must be ratified by the Guild's 460 remaining members, employees will receive a 2 percent annual raise but must pay a larger share of medical plan premiums.

[abb]

GONE WITH THE WIND - 2006

"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...

[abb]

Raoul's First Law of Journalism
BIAS = LAYOFFS

[abb]

Ping

[2banana]

Instead, the company agreed to cut 27 1/2 Guild positions and three nonunion jobs.

Wonder which half they kept?

[super7man]

"They're professionals, they're positive and they're looking forward to serving the community with a quality paper."

As opposed to the Mercury News.

[abb]

This newspaper thing is over. There's no way they can return to profitability with the advertisers fleeing in droves. You just can't get there from here...

[ken5050]

FYI...most management, in instituting layoffs, follows the exampel of real-estate developers. Someone buys a piece of land, wants to build 25 homes on it..He first submits a proposal to the planning board for, say, 50 homes on the site. Hearing are held, neighbors object, the usual reasons..valid or not, traffic, schools, NIMBY, etc. He then comes back with a REDUCED proposal for only 25 homes. Everyone is happy....neighbors "win" their victory, planning board and town council can get re-elected next time, and the developer has what he origianlly wanted..That's how the game is played. I suspect that the paper's management got what it originally wanted THIS time..They'll get the rest in about a year..

[abb]

They'll get the rest in about a year..

If they're still in business then...

[Grampa Dave]

Ken noted, "I suspect that the paper's management got what it originally wanted THIS time..They'll get the rest in about a year..

Once the dinosaur fishwrap execs get used to the taste of the blood of their fired employees. Future firings will be easier and will serve as serial punishment for their peons, whenever bad results are reported.

The execs/high priests and priestesses will become blood thirsty and will gladly be Aztec High Priests in their dealings with their underlings. They will eagerily use human sacrifices/firings to appease the evil Gods of the business world. Top management knows that there is no place for them to run to for a big paycheck. So they will gladly sacrifice the peons under them to stay employed until they too are sacrificed.

Now every Media News - fishwrap employee is just one personality conflict away from being sacrificed to the Fishwrap Gods, er, fired.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

That is true. The leadup to this had the entire paper closing down... now with "only" 27 jobs being eliminated, it seems like a reprieve. But the big cut is coming, or the shutdown. abb is right... you can't get there from here.

[samadams2000]

My hometown rag. Seriously, over the last 10 years you couldnt read a page without a story with a liberal slant, a mention of the gay lifestyle, discrimination, the scream of racism. Simply unbearable. Its couldnt happen to a greater group of hippies.