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Real estate mogul Sam Zell, who took control of media giant Tribune Co. about six months ago, defended yesterday the staffing and page cuts under way at The Sun and its other newspapers as necessary in the worst advertising climate in decades. In a conference call with Tribune Co. reporters, Zell said reducing staff by as much as 25 percent in some newsrooms and shrinking and redesigning the company's newspapers were the only options to ensure short-term survival and to allow a longer-term reinvention of the American newspaper. "We're looking at some of the worst advertising numbers in the history...

Charlotte bracing for Wachovia job cuts06:29 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 By MARK BOONE / WCNC E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.com CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mecklenburg County’s second-largest employer said Tuesday it would cut nearly 11,000 jobs as Wachovia announced a second quarter loss of $8.9 billion. The bank employs more than 20,000 people, ranking just under Carolinas Healthcare System in number of workers, according to data from the Charlotte Chamber. Many of Wachovia’s positions are expected to be trimmed from the company’s Charlotte offices, said Dr. Tony Plath, an associate professor of finance at UNC-Charlotte. “Any way you look at...

Just days after The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel admitted it was cutting 20% of news staff but not reporting it, The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, another Tribune paper, revealed it was reducing staff under a similar plan. Sun-Sentinel Editor Earl Maucker told E&P Monday that his paper also plans to cut 20% of its news staff -- now at 290 -- by the end of July. He said the cuts are coming through a combination of voluntary and involuntary departures. "A number of people have approached asking for consideration in the last three or four weeks," Maucker said, noting he told...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)-- American Airlines said it expects to lay off about 1,300 aircraft mechanics and 200 management and support staff positions as it begins retiring its A300 fleet later this year.

Layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers

The Modesto Bee is moving forward with plans to print the newspaper at The Sacramento Bee. In an update to employees, Publisher and President Margaret Randazzo said that based on an analysis of printing The Modesto Bee in Sacramento, "it is clear that this move makes both financial and operational sense." "This regional synergy with our sister McClatchy paper allows us to combine resources and streamline processes, resulting in significant cost savings and the avoidance of future capital expenses," Randazzo said in her memo Friday. "This is consistent with combining operations across the entire industry," including at other McClatchy papers....

More than 300 Palm Beach Post employees have applied for buyouts and all have been accepted, according to an internal memo obtained by the Pulp. Though the newspaper announced it would cut 300 jobs, there will be additional layoffs. According to the memo: The number of applications was more than expected. However, we received too many in some areas and not enough in others, So we still expect to begin a small number of involuntary separations, or layoffs, the week of Aug. 18 in some departments as needed. Thanks to all who applied. You have greatly reduced the number of...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, some 184 jobs, and eliminate its "geographically targeted news sections" as part of a cost-cutting plan the paper announced Wednesday. "The moves come amid an advertising revenue slump that has ravaged the newspaper industry and has been made worse by rising costs for fuel and newsprint," the paper reported. The paper reported that "job cuts, which will occur between August and October, will mainly affect the news and advertising departments at the company. They will be accomplished through voluntary buyouts, layoffs and job eliminations." The company currently has about 2,300...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut its workforce by 8 percent, or about 189 jobs, and eliminate all of its geographically targeted news sections as part of a cost-cutting plan announced Wednesday.

Even though at least 34 journalists at The Sun have applied for buyout packages, the paper will still need to lay off employees to achieve its goal of eliminating 60 newsroom jobs by August. According to Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Co-chair Tanika White, 34 Guild members and a rumored 10 more non-Guild members applied for the buyout by Friday’s deadline. White stressed that some buyout applications could be rejected — that Sun leadership may decide it cannot afford to lose certain skill sets, which would add to the number of layoffs. Judy Berman, senior vice president of marketing for the Baltimore...

Housing Bubble Correction Update: Fasten your seat belts, here comes the jobs crash The housing market has fallen hard but it's not time to buy, no matter what you hear. Depending on where you live it's time to decide if you can afford not to sell before prices go lower, or grin and bear it. The choice depends on your likely future employment prospects and where you live. In our first major update in our series of housing bubble forecasts since 2006 that began with our August 2002 Yes, it's a housing bubble analysis, we delve into the next phase...

The Chicago Tribune began informing staff Tuesday it will eliminate around 80 of its current 578 newsroom positions by the end of August and reduce the number of pages it publishes by 13 percent to 14 percent each week. There also will be a reduction of jobs in other Chicago Tribune departments, but that number was not immediately available. A paper spokesman declined comment. Because some newsroom jobs have been left unfilled in recent months, the actual number of staffers to exit the paper is expected to be between 55 and 58. "Like many newspapers, we're feeling financial pressures," Hanke...

Bruised by a deep sales slump and a half-century-low in its stock price, General Motors Corp. is preparing to cut thousands more white-collar jobs and is considering whether it should sell or shutter more of its brands, people familiar with the matter said. Both moves are part of a broader re-evaluation of GM's strategy and of its ability to meet an internal projection of returning to profitability in 2010, these people said. [Snip] The company currently sells vehicles under eight different brands, but most, including Buick, Saturn and Saab, struggle to attract buyers despite offering new models that cost GM...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A report released by the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday shows that in June nonfarm payrolls declined for the sixth consecutive month.U.S. payrolls last month fell by 62,000 workers, while the jobless rate remained at a four-year high of 5.5 percent after jumping in May by the most in two decades. Last month, the unemployment rate jumped up from 5 percent in April. The Labor Department report Thursday showed the unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance, which tends to track the U.S. jobless rate, increased to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent. Over a six-month period,...

The US economy shed jobs for the sixth consecutive month in June, but the unemployment rate managed to hold steady as economists expected, the Labor Department said today. The economy lost 62,000 jobs in June, just a bit more than the 60,000 lost jobs economists polled by Thomson Reuters IFR Markets were expecting.

Gannett Co. Inc. said Friday it is reorganizing its U.S. Community Publishing division, reducing the number of regional groups by one to four and seeing off two retiring top executives. Under the new structure, five regional groups have been reorganized into four: East, South, Interstate and West. Interstate will be headed by Senior Group President Barbara A. Henry until Aug. 1, when she is retiring, Gannett said. Henry, 55, has also been president and publisher of The Indianapolis Star since 2000. She began her career at Gannett as a reporter at the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal in 1974, and later became...

Bay Area News Group East Bay undertook company-wide job cuts Friday, affecting every department, including the newsroom, advertising, circulation and production. Separately, Bay Area News Group-East Bay said it will notify a local labor union that it intends to reduce the newsroom rank-and-file workforce by nearly 13 percent. BANG-East Bay operates numerous papers in the East Bay and San Mateo County. BANG-East Bay would not specify the total number of job reductions across the company. The company also said it plans to lay off 29 out of 226 employees in a newsroom operation whose journalists voted this month to be...

The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram are eliminating 31 jobs and closing their four news bureaus in response to a continuing decline in advertising revenues, their publisher said Thursday. The cuts come more than three months after The Seattle Times Co. said it was seeking to sell the Portland newspapers, along with the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. The Portland newspapers have had two earlier rounds of job cuts this year aimed at offsetting rising costs and declining revenues. In the latest cuts, 25 employees accepted voluntary severance packages and six were laid...

Date/Time: 6/25/2008 3:20:34 PM Title: Baltimore Sun announces downsizing plans Posted By: Jim Romenesko Memo from Baltimore Sun publisher Tim Ryan Sent: 6/25/2008 3:00 PM Subject: Organizational Update Dear Employees / Owners, The two key factors that will sustain our company for the future are customer satisfaction and financial stability. Achieving both goals is challenging in the very best of market conditions. In the face of today’s tough economy, adapting to consumer trends while maintaining our fiscal strength is proving to be even more difficult – yet even more critical. Our long-term strategy of going on offense and creating growth...

Palm Beach Newspapers Inc. said today it will cut 300 workers from its payroll of 1,350. "A prolonged slump in our advertising revenues, increased competition from the Internet and an overall difficult economic environment have combined to make this type of cost reduction necessary," Palm Beach Post Publisher Doug Franklin said. Palm Beach Newspapers Inc., which owns The Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach Daily News, the Florida Pennysaver and La Palma, hopes to make the cuts through voluntary buyouts offered to all employees who have worked for the company for more than five years, Franklin said. PBNI is just...

MSM's Downsizing Bloodbath May Give Alternative Media a Boost Downsizing BloodbathWhat the newspaper industry's unprecedented wave of layoffs says about American journalism -- and what it means for newspaper readers and bloggers By DAVID PAULIN The downsizing bloodbath in America's newspaper industry is different from earlier waves of layoffs over the years. This time top editors and reporters are being let go at the most prestigious newspapers. What does all this say about American journalism? And what will it mean for newspaper readers and bloggers? First, consider the financially troubled New York Times. Layoffs are being threatened there -- something...

The editor of the Chicago Tribune issued a memo Thursday to prepare her reporters and editors for drastic changes in content and painful reductions in staff. The memo from Editor Ann Marie Lipinski set out timetables for decisions leading to a "rethought and redesigned" Tribune promised in mid-September. Internal committees, she said, will evaluate which editorial matter to keep as the paper downsizes and, by mid-August, will recommend staffing levels. The paper is carrying out a directive from Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell to reduce costs. Declining revenues threaten Zell's ability to pay debt he took on for his leveraged...

American automakers responded with great enthusiasm to yesterday's decision by General Motors to compost its gas-guzzling business model and close four pickup truck and SUV plants - a unilateral gesture of good will towards the environment that will result in 10,000 lost jobs. The automaker communities are widely celebrating the event with eco-friendly block parties, Earth fairs, outdoor concerts of New Age music, drum circles in the wilderness, meditations, body painting, and unrhymed poetry readings that venerate the earth as a living, spiritual being that feels pain when it is bring drilled for oil.

The McClatchy Company, owner of The News Tribune, announced today that it plans to reduce its workforce by 10 percent – or 1,400 full-time employees. The third largest newspaper company in the country has seen its advertising revenue decline by 15.4 percent in the first five months of the year. And until now, the company has relied on attrition and eliminating jobs through outsourcing to manage its staff size. “I’m sorry this requires the painful announcement we are making today, but we’re taking action to help ensure a healthy future for our company,” said McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt. As part...

The News & Observer will cut 70 jobs, or about 8 percent of its work force, as part of a reduction in employment announced today by its parent company McClatchy.McClatchy, the publisher of 30 daily newspapers, said it will cut about 1,400 jobs nationwide -- or 10 percent of its work force -- as the company contends with declining revenue.The cuts at The N&O will occur in the newsroom, advertising, marketing, circulation, production and technical support, according to publisher Orage Quarles II, who oversees all the newspaper's operations."This is a painful but necessary step," Quarles said in e-mail to employees...

The McClatchy Co., battered by declining profits and revenue, announced a 10 percent companywide cut in its workforce Monday, including the Sacramento publisher's first-ever across-the-board layoffs. The decision will eliminate 1,400 jobs through a combination of layoffs, voluntary departures and attrition. The Bee announced it will eliminate 86 jobs, 46 by layoffs. The reduction will trim the paper's work force by 8.1 percent. McClatchy, publisher of The Bee, has prided itself on avoiding across-the-board layoffs even as it has used buyouts and attrition to cut its head count by 13 percent since April 2006. But with the company struggling and...

Hammered by the same financial problems facing newspapers across the country, The Miami Herald announced it plans to reduce its workforce by 250 full-time employees -- 17 percent of its staff. Publisher David Landsberg said the reduction includes 190 full-time and part-time employees being laid off, plus the elimination of other open positions, because of dramatic reductions in revenue. ''This is a painful but necessary step,'' Landsberg wrote in an e-mail to employees. ``We're operating in a time of great change and challenge for our operations.'' The Herald is owned by McClatchy, the third-largest newspaper company in the country. The...

The McClatchy Co., publisher of the Charlotte Observer and 29 other daily papers, said Monday that it plans to eliminate 1,400 positions, about 10 percent of its workforce, as it faces declining advertising revenue and increased competition from the Internet. Observer publisher Ann Caulkins told employees today that the paper will eliminate 123 positions, or 11.1 percent of its staff. The cuts will be made through voluntary and involuntary buyouts. The Observer newsroom is expected to lose 22 jobs. Caulkins said previous efforts to trim costs, including an earlier round of buyouts, reduced use of newsprint and the outsourcing of...

Ford Motor Co. plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August as part of a restructuring in the face of slumping sales and record-high gas prices, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it will cut its U.S. hourly work force by 2,000, or about 55 percent, as a result of a new contract ratified last week by the United Auto Workers union.

Media General reported weak April newspaper financial results Thursday, largely on plunging revenues in Tampa and its other two metro markets -- which drove help-wanted classified revenues down 42% and real estate down 40%. Overall revenue at the Richmond, Va.-based publisher and broadcaster fell 10.9% to $78.7 million in April. The Associated Press now reports that Media General says it will cut 750 jobs by the beginning of the third quarter to reduce operating costs. "The Richmond company says the reductions by October are in response to an overall slowing of the U.S. economy and a deepening recession in Florida,...

<p>They eat from the same dishes and sleep in the same beds, but they seem to be operating in two different economies. From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.</p>

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2008 – Office of Management and Budget officials today urged Congress to act quickly on the White House’s request for $102 billion in supplemental funding to cover military operations in the war on terror through fiscal 2008, which ends Sept. 30. If Congress doesn’t act by the Memorial Day recess on the fiscal 2008 supplemental budget request, the Defense Department may have to begin furloughing civilian employees by the end of June, OMB officials said. The White House sent a $70 billion fiscal 2009 supplemental budget request to Congress on May 2 to carry the war effort...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing ...

So far, 2008 hasn't been a banner year for Home Depot. In January, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer laid off 500 people from corporate headquarters. In February, it announced its first ever year over year sales decline. In April, it announced the net loss of 970 jobs from reorganizing its human resources staff. And today, it announced it is closing 15 stores, affecting 1,300 employees. Plus, the Home Depot is suspending the development of 50 stores. The 15 targeted stores are mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, from New Jersey to North Dakota. No Atlanta stores are scheduled to close....

Sagging pickup truck and sport utility vehicle sales have forced General Motors Corp. to shut down one shift each at four North American factories and lay off about 3,500 workers. The world's largest automaker by sales said Monday that the cuts, to take effect starting this summer, were brought on by weak demand due to high gasoline prices and an economic downturn. The cuts will affect pickup factories in Pontiac and Flint, Mich., and Oshawa, Ontario, as well as the full-size SUV plant in Janesville, Wis. The layoffs represent just over 4 percent of GM's hourly manufacturing work force of...

The Orange County Register and its affiliated publications will immediately lay off between 80 and 90 employees, or 5 percent of its workforce, because of declining advertising revenue, President and Publisher Terry Horne said today. Horne cited Orange County's sluggish economy, especially in real estate, as eroding local retail, automotive and classified advertising. The company provided no financial details. This is the third round of layoffs in a year for Orange County Register Communications, the umbrella brand for the Register newspaper, Web sites, magazines and other community publications. The company also completed a voluntary severance program to cut staff in...

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - UBS AG. plans to cut about 8,000 jobs and will likely announce the move when it presents its first-quarter financial results on May 6, Swiss weekly newspaper Sonntag reported, without saying where it got the information. Some 3,000 cuts will initially affect the company's operations in the United States and in western Europe, with the remaining 5,000 jobs to be eliminated this autumn, primarily in administrative functions, the newspaper said.

PDN online, (Photo District News) does not allow their material to be posted on FR but this is worth a look. A guy who works for the San Jose Mercury News has been so discouraged by the continuous layoffs in the news industry, he has started taking pictures of empty hallways and bulletin boards. You can read the story by clicking the link below. Read more here.

The number of mass layoff events in March 2008 decreased by 101 from the prior month, while the number of associated initial claims decreased by 20,218 ... Over the month, mass layoff activity in manufacturing decreased by 47 events, and initial claims decreased by 2,825

The Conference Room: How You Get Fired In Finance Subject: Hey, do you have a minute? Either come to my office or we can meet in a conference room. Uh oh. Unless that email is coming from the co-worker you’ve been secretly dating or (one of) the secretaries you’re having an affair with, you’re probably going to be fired in the next 5-10 minutes if you see this subject line in your inbox. I usually write about how to get into investment banking, private equity and finance in general on this site. But with everything going on in the market...

The New York Times announced that it's all but a done deal that the paper will have to layoff staffers in the newsroom. The drop-dead deadline is fast approaching for the staffers in The New York Times newsroom to raise their hand and volunteer for a buyout. An internal memo from the paper's assistant managing editor, Bill Schmidt, just went out and said that "we expect" that the buyout numbers aren't looking good and that for the first time the paper will be forced to cut the newsroom through layoffs. "While layoffs have become all too common across our industry,...

The Modesto Bee offered voluntary buyouts Monday to more than 100 employees, citing fundamental changes in the news industry. "We are managing through a challenging business environment and changing business model," President and Publisher Margaret Randazzo said. About one-quarter of The Bee's 455 employees were offered buyout packages. Not all who apply will be approved, Randazzo said, and only a limited number of buyouts will be accepted from each division. Randazzo said the buyouts were offered to employees in every division, except for ad sales representatives and reporters. The buyout packages include up to 26 weeks of pay depending on...

CHICAGO Media General Inc.'s Florida Communications Group, parent of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV, said Monday it is offering voluntary buyouts to about half of its 1,326 employees. Group President John Schueler said in an announcement on the Tribune's TBO.com Web site that the buyouts are a way to cut costs significantly in the difficult economic climate of Tampa Bay. Media General, in its latest financial report, said much of the chain's difficulties can be traced to its Tampa Bay media properties. The region, and all of Florida, has been hurt badly by a housing collapse that has spread pain...

CHICAGO U.S. daily newspapers shrank their newsrooms by 2,400 journalists in the past year, a 4.4% workforce decrease that's the biggest year-over-year cut in ranks since the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) began conducting its annual census 30 years ago. ASNE said 52,600 people work full-time in daily newspaper newsrooms -- a number that has not been that low since 1984. Among those leaving dailies in the past year were a net of nearly 300 fewer journalists of color than worked in newsrooms this time last year, ASNE found in the census released Sunday. Because of the wave of...

Seattle Times to Cut Approximately 200 Employees posted by Eli Sanders on April 7 at 13:10 PM This email was just sent to Seattle Times staffers by publisher Frank Blethen: Date: April 7, 2008 To: Seattle Times Employees From: Frank Blethen and Carolyn Kelly Due to the continued and increased loss of traditional newspaper revenue for both The Seattle Times and the Seattle P-I, we will be making necessary expense reductions. Our circumstances are in line with the newspaper industry nationally, which continues to see steep declines particularly in areas of Classified ad revenue and also a slowing of online...

Alejandro Salazar slumps into a cushioned seat halfway into the bus, looks out from under a baseball cap and thinks about a future more than a thousand miles away. He came to the Las Vegas Valley from Mexico five years ago to build houses, launching a run of $700-a-week paychecks that made it worth crossing the desert into the United States. But those weekly checks were whittled down to $200 over the past year; he sold his van and is returning to Aguascalientes. “At least I have family there,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. He has $60 in his jeans...

Aloha lays off 150 more The shutdown of ATA bleeds revenue from the local carrier's leftover business By Dave Segal dsegal@starbulletin.com Aloha Airlines employees, reeling from the loss of 1,900 jobs in connection with Monday's shutdown of passenger operations, suffered another blow yesterday when the company terminated 150 workers from its aviation services division. The latest job losses became necessary after ATA Airlines abruptly ceased all operations late Wednesday night. Aloha had depended on ATA for 20 percent of its revenue in aviation services. Aloha attorney Paul Singerman told federal Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King that the loss of the revenue...

Paul Douglas, WCCO's longtime weatherman, was released today from the station as part of a nationwide purge of CBS employees, a wide-ranging, dramatic response to a sluggish economy and steep competition for the Internet, which have caused ad rates and audiences to dwindle. Douglas, who also serves as a Star Tribune columnist, joins at least five WCCO employees, including weekend anchor John Reger, who were told their services were no longer needed. They have plenty of company. More than 100 employees at CBS's 29 owned TV stations were cut, a lis at the CBS-owned station to get their walking papers....

Kent and Mysti Cope met and fell in love working for one of the nation's top subprime lenders. Now, their life has been turned upside down after the sudden implosion of the subprime mortgage industry. Mysti was one of the last people out the door at New Century Financial Kent worked for several of the firms that helped give birth to the industry, which specializes in making loans to people with less-than-perfect credit Today, they're trying to get by on his unemployment benefits of about $450 a week, which covers only about an eighth of the basic payments they owe...