Layoffs at Contra Costa Times*

A July 1 memo from Bay Area News Group Executive Editor Kevin Keane to employees says the paper will layoff 18 people from the newsroom by midsummer.

Keane writes:

It goes without saying that this deep a cut on top of previous reductions will have a lasting impact on our newspapers and Web sites. Our preference would be to hold staffing at its current level until the revenue bottomed out, but we can't delay if we're to get through this downturn.

Before we finalize these cuts, however, we're asking for volunteers to step forward. These volunteers will receive an additional severance of up to eight weeks salary on top of the severance mentioned above - one week's pay for each year worked, up to eight years. Under the volunteer program, a 12-year employee would receive the maximum 20-week severance.

Read the full memo here.

The Bay Area News Group newspaper chain is a division of Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group and includes the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune. BANG plans to consolidate its copy desk functions with the San Jose Mercury News, which is expected to lead to even more layoffs at the latter paper.

(h/t themediaisdying)

*Update: This post has been clarified to show that the layoffs will affect all BANG papers, not only the Contra Costa Times.