Journal News lays off 36
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- December
- 2
The Journal News today laid off 36 full-time employees and eliminated four vacant positions as the paper faces continued retrenchment in the regional economy, Publisher Michael Fisch said.
The cuts are part of wider layoffs this week throughout Gannett Co. Inc., the owner of The Journal News. The corporation said in October it would reduce 10 percent of staff at its newspapers this month as advertising falls amid the national recession.
The northern suburbs have seen national retailers such as Linens ’n Things and Circuit City close or seek bankruptcy court protection, Fisch said, while banks have merged or closed and auto and real estate sales have plummeted.
“All of those have a direct impact on advertising, and every one of them has impacted us in some way or the other this year,” Fisch said.
Three employees accepted a voluntary severance offer last month. Those workers and the ones who were downsized today received one week’s pay for every year of employment, capped at 26 weeks. The cuts occurred across the paper’s operation.
The newspaper had about 850 full- and part-time workers prior to today’s layoffs. Last summer the paper laid off 12 other employees and five senior managers.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm by Jerry Gleeson.
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