Pioneer Press plans to cut 30 jobs

The St. Paul Pioneer Press is offering another round of buyouts to employees as advertising revenue continues to slide.

The paper is seeking a total of 30 buyouts, with 15 of those expected to come from the newsroom. Editor Thom Fladung told newsroom employees of the plan in an afternoon meeting today.

If the paper doesn't get the buyouts it's looking for, layoffs are a possibility, he said. Those who take the buyout would leave the newspaper by July 27.

"There's no way to sugarcoat this. I'm not going to try," Fladung said, noting that advertising trends need to turn a corner. "I want to avoid layoffs at all costs."

The buyout package amounts to two weeks pay for each year of service, up to one full year's pay. The Pioneer Press employs a total of about 800 people, with about 180 of those in the newsroom.

Newspapers across the country have been buffeted by advertisers taking their business to other online Web sites, classified ad revenues declining, and circulation numbers in a steady drop.

Although the Pioneer Press has reported modest growth in circulation in recent reporting periods, it's not escaped the advertising downturn. In December, the paper offered a round of buyouts that took 30 jobs out of the newspaper, including 21 in the newsroom. The largest union at the Pioneer Press also said today that four people in the newspaper's circulation department were laid off last week.

[Source: Twin Cities.com site of Pioneer Press]