More furloughs for LANG

LANG employees will have to endure yet another round of furloughs. Fred Hamilton, CEO and publisher of the nine-newspaper chain, sent a memo today telling employees that they must take 5 unpaid furlough days between May 16 and July 2. LANGers will also stop accruing vacation between these dates.

For Hamilton to hastily order furloughs to be taken over such a short period of time indicates just how much pressure the company must be under to boost its bottom line before the end of the fiscal year (June 30). Indeed, Hamilton says in the same memo that LANG employees will be able to take an additional 5 paid holidays in the next fiscal year to make up for the short-term pain.

This leads me to wonder if this dramatic, last-minute action is related to a possible deal to buy the Orange County Register. LANG's parent company, MediaNews Group, is in a bidding war with the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, to buy the Register.

It's also likely the chain is simply trying avoid further layoffs, given the revenue demands of some of its investor owners, who agreed to swallow $765 million of debt as MediaNews emerged from bankruptcy last year. The furloughs and vacation freeze come a week after layoffs at the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Hamilton said the latest actions should keep future pink slips to a trickle:

...today's action does not preclude other cost reduction measures including and not limited to reductions-in-force. At this time such actions will likely be limited and will continue to be an expense reduction alternative until the economy and our performance measurably improves.

As expressed in the past, we regret any inconvenience this action may cause you but until our financial challenges are clearly behind us, such actions are necessary.

The full memo is here.

(This post was edited)

Furloughs and a vacation freeze for LANG papers

Employees in the Los Angeles Newspaper Group's nine papers learned today that they will be once again lose vacation time and be forced to take unpaid furloughs days as part of an effort to cut costs.

Fred Hamilton, CEO and publisher of LANG, sent a memo today outlining the details. The vacation freeze starts today and will last until March 2011. For employees who earn two weeks of vacation a year, the freeze will cost them 3 days of vacation. It's 6 days for those earning four weeks per year.

The furloughs begin in January. Employees will be forced to take ten days off by mid March. Furlough days are unpaid unless employees choose to use up vacation time - a tough choice considering the freeze.

Hamilton blames lower than expected advertising revenues for the cuts. The memo does not mention layoffs, although Hamilton said some vacancies will remain unfilled and he alluded to consolidations, which could refer to a recent decision to merge the business departments of LANG and its sister chain in the north, the Bay Area News Group - some say the merger could result in the loss of 40 jobs. Hamilton ends the memo by saying said he regrets taking these actions, but warns of more drastic cuts if ad sales do not improve.

OC Register shrinks again

According to the SportsJournalists.com message board, the Orange County Register eliminated 30 positions this month, including 10 from the content side. Of those, seven were open positions that were eliminated. Three people were fired, including UCLA sports reporter Al Balderas.

From poster "playthrough":

This comes shortly after the fourth-quarter economic targets were achieved and everybody received bonuses. But in 2009, there was a one-week furlough and a 5 percent pay cut. And, currently, the entire floor of the building that houses the Content staff is undergoing a significant remodeling projected rumored to be in the $500,000 range.

Also, Freedom's bankruptcy, which previously had received court approval, is supposed to be finalized next week.

Keep in mind that the posted information comes from an anonymous source. I decided to link to it since the message thread includes a memo from OC Register editor Ken Brusic that mentions furloughs and possible layoffs. If I get any further information or corrections, I will post them prominently.

Gannett thaws frozen wages

The Gannett newspaper chain is apparently ready to lift a wage freeze implemented roughly a year ago, the Gannettoid blog reports:

Gannett has not commented on the expiration of the wage freeze, but executives have confirmed to Gannettoid.com the budgets are set with room for wage increases to begin in April.

Thawing wages will be welcome, but pitfalls remain:

Despite the upcoming return of raises, Gannett remains in a cutting mode. The round of layoffs [newspaper division president Bob] Dickey announced over the summer has yet to complete, employees are required to take five furlough days during the first quarter and the company is considering whether or not to impose another week of furloughs in the second quarter. The announcement last month that Westchester would lay off 166 employees when it outsources its printing is a part of the 1,400 planned layoffs Dickey announced over the summer.

Gannett is the largest newspaper chain in the country and USA Today is its flagship. Locally, Gannett owns the Desert Sun in Palm Springs.

MediaNews memo to staff

MediaNews Group executives Dean Singleton and Jody Lodovic sent a year-end memo to staff last week. The execs touted a few achievements...

Such as being less bad on the advertising side:

While advertising revenue has been severely challenged, your performance has been near the top of the industry throughout 2009. For the three-month period ended September, for example, your advertising revenue declined 24% as compared to the industry decline of 28.2%.

And staying out of bankruptcy court:

We have been working closely with our banks to restructure our debt and position MediaNews Group to execute its strategies and lead our newspapers into a positive future. Yes, we believe newspapers have a bright future! We are near agreement on the terms of a restructuring plan which we expect will be completed toward the end of the first quarter of 2010. Upon completion, MediaNews expects to have a manageable level of debt, and we look forward to working with each of you to take your newspapers into a changing but exciting future.

They offered some praise of the shrunken newsrooms as well:

While we, like others, have had no choice but to trim news staffs, we have tried to consolidate infrastructure to preserve reporting staff when possible. And with hard work and creativity, your newsrooms have re-invented themselves and continue to do excellent journalism.

But what staffers wanted to hear about was anything to do with future layoffs, hiring freezes or furloughs. On that front, the executives offered positive thinking but few reassurances:

As we near the end of 2009, you may have questions regarding annual reviews, 401(k) contributions, health care benefits, and future furloughs, etc. While it is our hope and desire to reinstate Company-wide salary reviews and 401(k) contributions as soon as possible and avoid future furloughs, it is premature to make those decisions.

The full memo is here.

Furloughs in the north

Management at the Singleton-owned Monterey County Herald, has asked workers to agree to take a week's unpaid furlough next year in exchange for a three-month's reprieve from any layoffs. From the guild website:

The one-week furlough would save $53,000, company representatives said. If Guild members reject the furlough, the company maintains the right under the Guild contract to lay off employees.

In requesting the furlough during a meeting with the Guild today, MediaNews counsel Marshall Anstandig cited a continued decline in advertising revenue at the Herald.

If Guild members approve the furlough, the company will guarantee that no layoffs will occur through March 31, 2010.

After March 31, the company said it would provide notice to the Guild should layoffs become necessary and meet with the Guild to consider any volunteers who’d be willing to quit to save the job of an employee who otherwise would be laid off.

More furloughs at MediaNews*

All LANG employees will be forced to take five days off between now and the end of September - those with vacation time will be able to collect vacation pay; those without will be forced to take an unpaid furlough.

From the memo:

For those with 40 or more hours in their vacation bank, simply take a week of vacation. Because we are heading into the summer months when most people utilize their vacation time, this option should prove to have little or no impact on the majority of employees.

For those with less than 40 hours in their vacation bank, you can do a combination of both options. An example for a full-time employee who works 40 hours per week; you have 24 hours accrued vacation, you can use your three vacation days PLUS take two unpaid furlough days to equal the total five-day requirement.

For those with little or no vacation hours in their vacation bank, you will need to take unpaid furlough equaling five days. Non-exempt employees have the option of spreading their furlough days over several pay periods or they may take all of the time off within a one-week period. It is up to you, but the time must be taken by September 26.

Exempt employees who do not have the equivalent of five days’ vacation in their vacation bank do not have the option of combining vacation with furlough. If you are exempt, and do not have at least one week of vacation, you must take a week of furlough. Your week of furlough must be taken at one time (all within the same week), and you cannot perform any work during that week. This requirement may not apply to some sales positions, so if you are in advertising sales, please see your manager for guidance.

(Read the complete memo here.)

LANG also plans to extend a vacation freeze instituted last April, which means employees won't be able to accrue anymore vacation time until at least the end of September.

When LANG, which is a division of Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group, first announced the vacation freeze, it encouraged employees to use their vacation days as soon as possible. Those who heeded that advice are probably regretting it.

*Update: MediaNews Group also sent out a press release today to knock down rumors that the company was considering a bankruptcy filing. The company says it is negotiating its debt with lenders, but adds that: "Proposals to the company's lenders do not include a change in control of the company, nor do they include proposals for any bankruptcy filings, as the rumors suggest."

Furlough fever

In a "special report," Joe Strupp at Editor & Publisher looks at the furlough trend that swept through many newspaper chains earlier this year, as already decimated newsrooms looked for ways to save money without more layoffs:

In nearly every case, at least where furloughs are concerned, guild members have to approve the unpaid time off in order for it to take effect. Most guilds are going along with the idea, at least for the moment, with many members saying their newsrooms have been cut enough and don't want to have to work in a further depleted office — or worse, lose their jobs.

"It is the best of a terrible range of options," says Tom Spalding, president of the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild and a business reporter at the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star. "You keep your job, your insurance, and the pay cut is not permanent."

-snip-

But while many of those affected are willing to give up a little here and there to keep their jobs, the impact of cut salaries, frozen retirement funds and unpaid time off takes a psychological toll. "People come out of this very conflicted," says Jane Halpert, a psychologist who specializes in work-related issues at De Paul University. "They see all of the people who are losing their jobs and they still have a job, but at the same time they are being nickeled and dimed. And the paper tries to present this as a good thing — more days off. But it is not a vacation; it is temporary short-term unemployment."

Strupp goes on to report that unions increasingly demand newspaper owners open the books before they'll agree to absorb more benefit cuts. After the guild at the Denver Post combed through Dean Singleton's financials, they agreed to wage cuts of 6% to 9% and seven-day furloughs in each of the next three years.

Belo to cut salaries, freeze pensions

AH Belo, the parent company of the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Dallas Morning News, announced today that starting May 1 it will cut the salaries of all workers making over $25,000 and eliminate annual pension contributions for 2009.

According to the memo from CEO Richard Decherd, salary cuts will made on a sliding scale:

$25,000 and under 0 %
$25,001 - $74,999 2.5 %
$75,000 - $102,499 5.0 %
$102,500 - $149,999 7.5 %
$150,000 - $225,000 10 %
Over $225,000 15 %

As the New York Times did when it announced pay cuts last week, Belo will "give" employees days off in exchange for the smaller paycheck. But the company calls the unpaid a "cushion" rather than a furlough:

Our hope is to restore most or all of these cuts for impacted employees at some time in the future, as business conditions permit. To cushion the impact of the wage cuts, all impacted employees will receive three additional personal days per calendar year, effective at the time of the salary reductions.

Belo expects to save $16 million annually between the pension freeze and the salary cuts. Read the full memo from Decherd here.

New York Times orders employee furloughs

Most employees of the New York Times will be forced to take 10 days of unpaid leave as the paper becomes the latest to adopt furloughs as a way to cut costs. For legal reasons, the paper has characterized the furloughs as pay cuts, saying it will cut employee pay by 5 percent over a nine-month period in exchange for the time off.

Additionally, the Times plans to layoff about 100 employees in its business department, trim its freelance budget and merge some sections of the paper to cut down printing costs.

Furloughs for Gannett, round two

Another round of furloughs is planned at the Gannett chain, including the Palm Springs Desert Sun. Most employees will have to take an additional week off - unpaid, of course. Higher-paid employees will have to take a larger hit, according to a memo from Gannett President and CEO Craig Dubow, with some taking a second week off or a temporary salary reduction. From the memo:

We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company. Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.

One of those choices was between more layoffs or another round of furloughs. We chose, for most employees, a furlough program consisting of at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May or June.

The program will differ from the first quarter’s in a couple of important ways:

• The length of the furlough for employees will vary somewhat by division or location, depending on the division’s operating needs and results.
• Our higher salaried employees will be asked to make an additional sacrifice. This could be a second furlough week or a week’s furlough plus a temporary salary reduction equivalent to one week’s pay for the quarter, depending on the division and/or location.
• Some hourly employees will not be required to take a full week. Each division or location will have different requirements for employees in this category.

Read the rest of the memo here. Also, Gannett has instituted a wage freeze effective April 1 to March 31, 2010.

The furloughs fly at Newhouse papers*

Citing "unprecedent challenges," the Newhouse chain has implemented 10-day, unpaid furloughs and a pension freeze at some or all of its newspapers. Editor & Publisher reports:

Word of the furloughs began to spread last week, but formal announcements were going out today at most of the company's Newhouse Newspapers, including The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.; The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; The Oregonian in Portland; The Times-Picayune in New Orleans; and The Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance, as well as the chain's dailies in Syracuse, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Harrisburg, Pa.

"Most of our papers will have two measures," [Chairman Steve] Newhouse said. "One is a freeze of our defined benefit plan, or pension, that will be paired with an increase in our 401 (k) match. The other is a mandatory 10-day furlough, unpaid furlough."

A few Michigan papers will be consolidated - some going to three days a week - and unspecified salary cuts are planned in Cleveland and Portland, E&P adds. I'm also told part-time staffers at the Oregonian are being left off the work schedule; I'm not sure if that's happening elsewhere.

*Updated: Newhouse will shutter the Ann Arbor News and replace it with a web-based paper and social networking site. (via Romenesko)

Newhouse embracing furloughs?

Joe Strupp at Editor & Publisher got hold of some emails purporting to outline a plan to freeze pensions and implement a 10-day, unpaid furlough for staffers at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey. Strupp writes:

Several Star-Ledger staffers who have seen the printout, which was left in a meeting room one week ago, say it has sparked new concerns about the newsroom.

But at least some wonder if it is all a ploy to heighten fears about serious cutbacks before announcing lesser changes, such as only one week of furloughs for each staffer.

There's also concern that any pension freeze or furlough plan will spill over into other papers owned by the Newhouse chain, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Portland Oregonian.

Furloughs at the Register*

The company that owns the Orange County Register has ordered that nearly all employees at its 100 or so newspapers take a one-week, unpaid furlough between April 1 and June 30, Editor & Publisher reports. Freedom Communications announced the plan in a memo dated March 17. OC Register

*Updated: Furloughs and layoffs. From the Register:

Register Publisher Terry Horne said the layoffs would occur over the next few weeks, but he did not have an exact number.

Furloughs spread eastward*

MediaNews Group employees in Texas, New Mexico and Minnesota have now been told to take one-week, unpaid furloughs. AP, MPR

*Update: And Massachusetts and New Hampshire (DBJ). MediaNews has papers in 11 states, so I imagine this means six down, five to go.

Guild agrees to furloughs*

I missed this Monday...

The guild representing newsroom employees at the Los Angeles Daily News made a deal with management on unpaid furloughs:

...the Guild agreed to accept five days of unpaid leave per bargaining-unit employee by March 31, 2009. Guild representatives proposed — and the company agreed — that in the event any unit member is laid off during that period, the company will pay the employee for time lost during the furlough.

*Correction: I originally reported guild members at the Long Beach Press-Telegram were part of the furlough deal. According to the Stress-Telegram, they are still in negotiations with management.

In (measured) praise of furloughs

Alan Mutter says Gannett's unpaid furlough plan will save jobs.