Feb 10, 2011

Layoffs in LANG*, **

The salary cuts and furloughs weren't enough to stave off layoffs in the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. I'm told that two editorial employees, including the photo editor, were fired from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and an unfilled editorial position was eliminated. An administrative assistant and IT staffer were also laid off.

There may be more layoffs in other departments and at other papers. I'll update when and if I get more information.

*Update: The layoffs include photo editor Bernardo Alps and designer Mary Roy. An unfilled editorial position at the Pasadena Star-News was also eliminated.

**Update II: Here's the goodbye email from Bernardo Alps to his former colleagues (I deleted his contact information):
...wasn't planning it this way, but I am off in search of new adventures. 
I want to thank all of you for the time we had together. You are a great group of people doing great work under difficult conditions. I enjoyed working with all of you and I learned from each of you. I hope you realize that I had to be a hardass to make things work smoothly. If I was hard on you sometimes, it in no way reflects how I feel about you personally. 
Please stay in touch (and send any leads my way). 
Now I'm off to make some lemonade... 
Take care

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lay off, not firing, it is understood, of Bernardo Alps and designer Mary Roy.

Anonymous said...

So, so sorry. I didn't know Mary, but Bernardo is an excellent photographer, and a truly nice, decent person who did his job, did it very well, and was always willing to help his co-workers.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to get into a war of words, but if you ever worked with him, you would not say the same thing.

Anonymous said...

refer to many previous posts...this is not the place to be working. who wouldn't have seen this coming? expect more of the same.

Anonymous said...

@12:54 p.m. Layoffs = firing. Do you think any of these laid off people are going to be recalled in the future?

Anonymous said...

1:10 -- I will bow to your experience. I worked with him, but not closely (meaning, I wasn't a photographer). As far as I was concerned, he seemed like a pretty nice guy.

Either way, it still sucks to get laid off/fired/let go/downsized/etc. And on that subject, I DO have personal knowledge.

Anonymous said...

Bernardo is awesome and SGVN is ridiculous to let him go. Hopefully he'll get a job with a company that is actually decent next time.

Anonymous said...

"I am confident that today's action will be sufficient toward our effort to manage our expenses within our means."

- Fred Hamilton, LANG CEO, on wage cuts Feb. 2, 2001

Anonymous said...

oops, 2011.

Anonymous said...

Bernardo knows like three languages and is a very good photographer. He'll get something far better.

Anonymous said...

As always, the dead weight that needs to go stays around while the productive workers are dumped like used rags.

Hope the folks at the Register are reading this.

Anonymous said...

Who was the IT staffer?

One can only hope it was Frasier.

Anonymous said...

What's up with all the OCR people here at SGVN? Oh no. Crap. We're efd.

Anonymous said...

Ask those who worked under photo editor how he treated them. I beg to differ on awesome photog. Maybe a good wildlife one but lacking in photojournalism skills. Ask anyone who worked with him for any length of time.

Anonymous said...

If you get fired, you don't get to collec EDD benefits, if you get laid off, you do...HUGE difference.

Larry Altman said...

It really takes balls to anonymously attack someone who just got laid off. How bitter a person can anyone be.

Best of luck to Bernardo and all of us who could be next.

Mike Flenniken said...

Best of luck, Bernardo. I enjoyed working with you during my time there.

I really wish people wouldn't be allowed to hide behind anonymous comments here, even at the risk of the rest of us being robbed of reading their "wisdom."

Anonymous said...

I beg to differ...it DOES NOT take balls so slam someone anonymously...in fact it's easy (and no, that wasn't me slamming that guy, in fact, I don't know him)

Anonymous said...

There will always be those who like, dislike and are indifferent to people. Take it with a grain of salt. Having said that, I would like to say that it is the same excuse they give every time they cut, cut cut.

The only solution to this problem is for everyone, every single person who works there to not come in to work, strike per say, until things are done maturely and with reason.

They will continue to bleed all of you until the last drop is squeezed simply because you allow it.

It is sad to see anyone go, and it just astounds the mind as to how and why they choose who they choose.

Make demands and stick to them. Call in sick all at once and you'll see how quickly these rats will jump at the thought of not putting out revenue even for one day.

Anonymous said...

I say strike!

Anonymous said...

Bernardo was a great person and photog. Best of luck my friend.

Anonymous said...

yeah strike...what a dunce. as far as hamilton...what a twit and a complete no talent. take a look at revenue under his watch. EDD is better than that cess pool.

Anonymous said...

Is Klunder still around or did he leave again?

Anonymous said...

strike? you will lose your job you have no protection and you will be fired
we all know that the furloughs, not accruing vacation time, wage cuts and now lay offs are to tune up their financial statement so when they bid for Freedom they will have a better chance

Anonymous said...

I believe Mr Klunder is still the publisher at the Daily News. He is the only talent left in the organization.

Anonymous said...

follow the dollar sign - it most always leads to the answer

at LANG/MediaNews/Alden it's simply about greed

guess dean's not going to be dictator anymore, maybe king like englands queen no power or authority but holding on to the position- time will tell alden may be worse

Former PTer said...

I think I have gone past feeling bad for the people at LNG/MNG. They have had enough time to look/find somewhere else to work at since the first poop hit the fan in early 2008.

Anonymous said...

It is a free country. No slaves toiling in the trenches by force. Free will here.

Anonymous said...

I thought I heard no more layoffs. You mean they were fooling us?

Anonymous said...

They weren't fooling you. He was just wrong at being confident about "today's action."

Anonymous said...

Just heard that SGVT & PSN's advertising department was "downsized".

Anonymous said...

Downsized to what, a fax, a phone and a stooge?

Anonymous said...

maybe it is like the PE where they just layoff folks they don't like or don't have a family connection?

Anonymous said...

Playoffs! How in the hell can we get to the playoffs with this lousy record? Playoffs my ass!

Anonymous said...

I worked with Bernardo and even had run-ins with him. I will say he was a hard worker who cared about what he did and the company, which cares only about itself. He had to be hard because the idiots in charge were hard on him.