Providence Journal To Cut 100 Jobs By Friday

 

PROVIDENCE, RI (March 3, 2009) – An additional 100 employees will be laid off at the Providence Journal by March 6, according to the Providence Newspaper Guild, the union that represents reporters, photographers, editors, and advertising staff at the newspaper.

The Guild said slightly more than half of the jobs being cut are positions represented by the union.

The photography department will be hard hit, the Guild says, losing two photography editors, two photographers, and two imaging technicians.

Of the 100 jobs being eliminated, the Guild says there are 26 part-time and eight full-time jobs going from the advertising department and 18 full-time jobs from the news department. Outside of photo the news cuts include one section editor, two copy editors, two artists, two editorial assistants, and five state staff office assistants, according to the Guild. In this round of layoffs no reporters were cut. The other job eliminations will come from management, production, and non-Guild jobs.

In October 2008, 31 news department employees were laid off and 12 others took voluntary buyouts, the Guild said.

The union is telling its members that if they're laid off they have two options: they can accept the contractually required two weeks pay and placement on the rehire list, or accept the company's severance package of 1.25 weeks pay per year of service (to a maximum of 10 weeks pay) and sign a waiver releasing rehire rights. Both choices include medical insurance that continues until the end of March.

 

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