SF Chronicle to cut 100 newsroom jobs, union says

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/17/BAGVEPTE804.DTL

Chronicle to cut 100 newsroom jobs, union says

John Coté

Thursday, May 17, 2007

(05-17) 20:30 PDT -- Chronicle management informed the newspaper guild Thursday that it intends to cut 80 union and 20 management positions in the editorial department, the guild said in a statement. The cuts represent roughly 25 percent of the newsroom staff of about 400.

Michael Cabanatuan, president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild, said management described the cuts as necessary because the paper is losing substantial funds. Newspapers across the country have seen reduced circulation and falling advertising revenue in recent years as the industry copes with the emergence of online media.

The union has proposed a plan to achieve the target number of job reductions through voluntary buyouts and retirement incentives, which management is considering, Cabanatuan said.

Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega said, "Representatives from the Chronicle did meet (Thursday) with Guild representatives to initiate discussions on early retirement and buyout programs involving a significant number of people. We are not prepared to discuss specifics because it was just a preliminary conversation."

[Lost4words]

1. Its too bad the MSM policies are putting these folks into the street

the reporters should be mad as hell. But its too late now, shoulda reported the TRUTH.