SF Chronicle Union Workers Told by Guild to Brace for Layoffs

The California Media Workers Guild Local 39521 told its members through its website just before the Labor Day holiday that they should brace for more layoffs at the San Fransico Chronicle.

Management representatives of the San Francisco Chronicle met Friday with the Guild to discuss the company’s plans to eliminate jobs through a combination of buyouts and layoffs.

No details have been decided, the company said, although a few positions may be cut as early as next week. Additional announcements are expected after Labor Day.

The company continues to lose money. The operating losses for the year to date are running in excess of $1 million a week, including some costs related to the workforce reductions already implemented.

Some additional losses may be tolerated, the management officials said, but the company clearly intends to reduce the gap to as close to break-even as possible during the fourth quarter. We were told that Chronicle revenues keep sliding worse than expected, mostly because of the weak economy and ongoing problems of the news industry.

Any Guild member interested in discussing a voluntary buyout is encouraged to let this be known. You may contact your supervisor, Human Resources or the Guild. We will keep any buyout interest confidential during the initial discussions.

SF Chronicle, Union Agree to Eliminate at Least 70 Drivers

UPDATE, April 20, 10:27 a.m. Eastern: The Guild voted to approve the cutbacks, and the Chronicle wrote last night it would result in at least 90 jobs lost.

The San Fransisco Chronicle and the Teamsters Local 853 reached a tentative agreement that authorizes the release of at least 70 drivers as part of the newspaper's campaign to cut operating costs.

The union represents roughly 235 drivers in the circulation department. Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 853 will vote Sunday on the plan, said Rome Aloise, the local's secretary-treasurer, in a story in the Chronicle.

The proposal would eliminate 30 to 35 percent of those drivers, which means the loss of 70 to 83 jobs. Departing workers would receive two weeks' severance pay for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 52 weeks.

Hearst Corp announced in February that it would sell or close the 144-year-old newspaper if it couldn't quickly achieve significant savings.

Guild Tentatively Agrees to Concessions at SF Chronicle

The California Media Workers Guild's negotiators have reached a tentative agreement with management at the San Francisco Chronicle over concessions aimed at keeping the struggling newspaper printing. Ratification is set for Thursday, and the Guild negotiators are recommending its approval.

The terms reached late Monday include expanded management ability to lay off employees without regard to seniority. All employees who are discharged in a layoff or who accept voluntary buyouts are guaranteed two weeks’ pay per year of service up to a maximum of one year, plus company-paid health care for the severance term, even in the event of a shutdown – which today’s agreement is designed to avoid.

Guild membership will remain a condition of continued employment for all employees. However, new hires in certain advertising sales positions will be given the option of membership, even though they will retain Guild protection under the contract.

On-callers will be limited to no more than 10 percent in any classification or department.

Pension changes are not part of this agreement, but are being discussed by pension authorities and must be implemented under terms of the Pension Protection Act, due to the recent declines in investment markets. Because those changes may affect the decisions of many members concerning buyouts, we are attempting to reach some key understandings now as to the nature of the changes and when they will take effect.

Report: SF Chronicle Tells Union to Accept Concessions or It Will Cut 225 Jobs

Owners of the San Francisco Chronicle have told union officials that it would cut at least 225 jobs if the Northern California Media Workers Guild doesn't meet its demands, sources have told Robert Gammon of the East Bay Expresss.

Gammom is reporting that most of the jobs cuts would come from the Chronicle's newsroom, and represents about half the newsroom employees. His report says that the company negotiators have informed the journalists' union that if it decides to agree to the company's demands, then only 150 jobs would be eliminated.

From Gammon's report:

The company demands include giving up senority rights and slashing vacation, sick time, and maternity/paternity leave. The company also wants the union to allow it to oustsource some jobs to nonunionized employees. Senority is viewed as one of the key issues, because the company does not want to only lay off newer, lower paid employees.

Under the current guild contract, layoffs occur in order of length of service with the company. Typically, the longer a journalist has been with the company, the higher they are paid. The company's demands are sure to divide the newsroom between younger, lower paid journalists, and older, higher paid ones.

Hearst: San Francisco Chronicle Must Drastically Cut Costs Quickly or Face Closure

New York-based Hearst Corp. announced today that it must sell the financially strapped San Francisco Chronicle or close it if it can't dramatically lower expenses within the next few months.

It didn't specify a savings target in Tuesday's grim announcement, but said that the cost cutting will require significant layoffs. The newspaper's Linkedin profile lists the number of employees at the newspaper from 500 to 1,000. Hearst said the Chronicle lost $50 million last year and is hemorrhaging even more money so far this year.
on the sales block, have filed for bankruptcy or are facing a possible shutdown.

Here is the text of the announcement:

Hearst Corporation announced today that its San Francisco Chronicle newspaper is undertaking critical cost-saving measures including a significant reduction in the number of its unionized and nonunion employees. If these savings cannot be accomplished within weeks, Hearst said, the Company will be forced to sell or close the newspaper.

Hearst said that the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and that this year’s losses to date are worse. The Chronicle has had major losses each year since 2001.

“Because of the sea change newspapers everywhere are undergoing and these dire economic times, it is essential that our management and the local union leadership work together to implement the changes necessary to bring the cost of producing the Chronicle into line with available revenue,” said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and chief executive officer, Hearst Corporation, and Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers. They added, “Given the losses the Chronicle continues to sustain, the time to implement these changes cannot be long. These changes are designed to give the Chronicle the best possible chance to survive and continue to serve the people of the Bay Area with distinction, as it has since 1865. Survival is the outcome we all want to achieve. But without the specific changes we are seeking across the entire Chronicle organization, we will have no choice but to quickly seek a buyer for the Chronicle or, should a buyer not be found, to shut the newspaper down.”

Hearst noted that these cost reductions are part of a broad effort to restore the Chronicle to financial health. The Chronicle has been asking its readers to pay more for the product through home delivery and single-copy price increases. In June, the Chronicle expects to begin printing on new presses owned and operated by Transcontinental Inc., which will give the Chronicle industry-leading color reproduction capabilities.

Minor Earthquake Shakes San Francisco

The San Francisco Bay area was rattled last night with a minor earthquake, registering 4.0 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The survey also said there was a second aftershock in the region that registered 1.8 on the Richter scale this morning..

Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle reports this morning:

The Contra Costa and Alameda County sheriff's offices said they had no reports of damage.

The quake was felt in Petaluma to the north and in Gilroy and Turlock to the south and southeast, said David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the geological survey. He said it occurred on an unnamed fault about 2.5 miles from the larger Calaveras fault and two miles north-northeast of Alamo, on Serafix Road.

A cluster of quakes occurred on the same fault in April 1990, with 18 registering at 3.0 or higher in a three-week period, Oppenheimer said. He said the larger quakes in that sequence caused minor structural damage to nearby homes.

Friday's earthquake took place about 10 miles underground, more than twice as deep as the 1990 quakes, and thus is probably less likely to be part of a cluster or cause damage, Oppenheimer said.

Palin's Daughter Pregnancy Stuns Political World

Rick Klein and Jennifer Parker, writing for ABC News, examine the ramifications of the news that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months' pregnant and will marry her boyfriend.

Palin is an outspoken opponent of abortion, opposing the termination of a pregnancy in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger. Palin also opposed sexual education programs in schools, other than an abstinence-only curriculum, during her 2006 Alaska gubernatorial campaign.

Given all that as a backdrop, the tag of hypocrite may soon appear from the left. That tag is a political death sentence for anyone.

So far, the reaction has been predictable along party lines. Obama told reporters after a campaign event in Monroe, Mich., that “people’s families are off-limits and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”

But fallout has started, and there will be no let up in the coming days.

Richard Gizbert, writing for the Huffington Post, says Palin is the new Thomas Engleton, and predicts she will step away from the race within next week or so. He pins the potential move on reaction from evangelicals.

But what hurts Palin's candidacy more than anything else is the breaking news about her daughter.

It hurts because Sarah Palin was a bone John McCain threw at the Republican right.

He had problems with evangelicals and thought she could help him there. And, for a news cycle or two, it worked.

But what are the evangelicals thinking now? A teen pregnancy for a prospective vice-president's unmarried daughter?

Even though some will say the decision to keep the baby is consistent with their beliefs on abortion, it's still not the news they want to hear.

Evangelicals are socially conservative. How many of them are calling members of their congregations today, asking whether this kind of thing would have happened had Sarah Palin given up her career to be there for her children?

Bart Jones of Newsday interviewed Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf who said that the revelation shows that McCain stubbed his toe on the selection process, and that ultimately it will doom his candidacy.

The selection showed a "major lack of judgment" and a "major failure to comprehend what the reaction would be," Sheinkopf said.

"You cannot excite the base of fundamentalist Christians by telling them your daughter is pregnant out of wedlock," he said. The entire episode "makes the McCain people look stupid."

McCain supporters have been spending the day defending her. Liz Halloran of U.S. News and World Reports, met with evangelicals today and discussed the issue.

"I don't think it [hurts] at all," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who hailed Palin's nomination.

The media's breathless reaction is proof that "you just don't get it," Land said during a U.S. News lunch roundtable here that also included Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners; Randy Brinson, founder of Redeem the Vote; and Chuck Donovan, executive vice president for the Family Research Council.

"We need to take the Juno option," Wallis said, referring to last year's popular movie about a pregnant teenager who gives her baby up for adoption. Said Donovan: "It doesn't matter if it's a conservative, liberal, or an apolitical family—these things happen."

Donovan and Land both referred to the national efforts by evangelicals to encourage women and girls to do what Bristol Palin, now five months pregnant, has done and keep the child. "Pro-life people don't see a baby as a punishment," Land said.

Carla Marinucci, the political writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, talked to Republican delegates in St. Paul, Minn., about their concerns. Most everyone was supportive of Palin and her family.

Most staunch Republicans in St. Paul, hearing the news, aimed to accentuate the positive: Palin's daughter is keeping the baby and getting married, a plus - the embodiment of family values, they said.

"I'm not a feminist, never have been, and I opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because it was bad law," said Jo Ellen Allen, a delegate from Newport Beach. "But women ought to be applauding her. ... This happens to the best of families."

"As a delegate, and as a woman, I respect them even more now,' said Miryam Mora, 26, a GOP delegate from Los Angeles, whose reaction mirrored many inside Xcel Energy Center. "It's a family with real issues and real problems ... but it's an amazing family."