By E&P Staff
NEW YORK The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal cut 25% of its newsroom staff Tuesday. Forty employees will receive one-week of pay for every six months of service capped at one year.
Twenty-nine of the positions are full-time; 11 are part time. The cut affects four non-guild employees.
Management at the paper gave a 60-day notice in accordance with the newspaper guild contract. The layoffs are based on seniority within job classifications -- a last-in, first-out set-up.
“It is very sad,” said Rita Kelly Madick, a spokeswoman for the Beacon Journal. ”This is an amazing team of people. Even knowing it was coming didn’t help.
More lay-offs are planned for other departments. The paper employs 710 people.
The paper has experienced a significant decline in revenue over the last five years.
The Beacon Journal, a former Knight Ridder paper, was one of the deserted dozen after McClatchy acquired Knight Ridder in March. McClatchy sold the Beacon Journal to Black Press for $165 million.
David Black, the president of Black Press, said shortly after the acquisition that he intended to trim staff after the sale closed on Aug. 1.
The Beacon Journal is one of several metro newspapers that have trimmed staff. The Dallas Morning News announced it was cutting 17% of its news staff. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, a rival of the Beacon Journal, announced it was offering a buyout package to employees 50 years or older with 20 years experience.
[Madick is promotion and marketing director]
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