Richmond hit AGAIN

Just got this, copy of an e-mail sent by the professional association. No idea where in the news room the cuts came from, but this is only six weeks after 29 or so were let go in the news room (and 59 company wide). Not sure where else they can actually cut.

Media General laid off five members of the Richmond Times-Dispatch news staff today. The company said it took the action to save approximately $200,000 in the newsroom budget, including the money saved from the voluntary resignation of another staffer.
As you know, the RNPA offered to defer wage and merit increases until next year in return for reasonable and fair concessions on job security. We repeated our offer in a letter to the company last week after the newsroom voted by a wide margin to defer raises in return for concessions. The company said it saw no reason to meet further on our proposal, but conceded today that it had made no counter-offer to our proposal during four days of discussions.

The company also said today that it did not consider cuts to management positions or pay to save the money.

We deplore these actions, which further diminish the strength of the newspaper and the diversity of the news staff. We are examining the company's actions to determine whether Media General is in violation of the National Labor Relations Act or other federal laws.
We will keep you informed.

 

From the publisher to staff:

To: All Times-Dispatch Employees
On April 2, I regretfully informed you of painful, but necessary, steps The Times-Dispatch was taking in response to our challenging economic conditions: we eliminated 31 open positions and laid off 59 employees across 11 departments that day. I also announced that there would be no pay increases in 2009 for all non-unionized employees.
We also invited the Richmond Newspapers Professional Association to equally participate in our cost-cutting efforts by foregoing the 2009 pay increases in their union contract. We explained to the RNPA, as we explained to everyone, that wage concessions were necessary in all departments to properly align our expenses with our depressed revenues. We also said that, without wage concessions, it would be necessary to achieve the savings through other means, which could include additional layoffs.
Unfortunately, our requests for pay increase concessions were rejected. This was the wrong answer from the RNPA. As a result, today we laid off an additional five employees in the Newsroom to achieve our targeted expense reductions.
I know all of us are working hard to make sure we can weather an extremely tough recession and serve the information needs of our readers to the very best of our ability. You have all been asked to do more with less and you have shown you are not as shortsighted as some in our Newsroom. Your hard work and continued support are greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
TAS




Sports not hit in this go-round.

 

Agree. That is exactly what it sounds like. It makes me sick to my stomach, too.