Star Tribune to lay off 58 workers

By H.J. Cummins, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Star Tribune this morning announced the layoff of 58 employees, about 3 percent of the newspaper’s workforce, and an indefinite wage freeze for all its nonunion employees, about 600 in total.

Publisher Chris Harte cited continuing revenue declines, the efficiencies of new technology and outsourcing in a morning memo to employees.

Three-fourths of the eliminated jobs are in the circulation department, which got the news at 9 a.m. meetings. The exiting employees will receive the same severance given to about 140 employees who took voluntary buyouts last May, which is two weeks’ pay for every year’s employment and six months of health coverage.

At that time, the company hoped those cuts would be enough to stabilize finances, Harte wrote in the memo.
“Since then, the national and state economies have further weakened, and our key classified markets — real estate, automotive and employment — have fared even worse than the overall economy,” he wrote.

In a previous communication to employees, Harte said total revenue declined almost $75 million over the past two years. The circulation cuts come as the outsourcing of home delivery to independent agents was completed, newspaper spokesman Ben Taylor said in an interview.

There are also reductions in single-copy delivery, as truck drivers assume duties previously performed by other staff, Taylor said.

The other quarter of eliminated jobs are scattered throughout the company, although Taylor stressed no journalism or ad sales jobs are being cut with this announcement.

However, last week two unions — the Guild and the Graphic Communications International Union — that represent seven photo technicians in the newsroom were told the company plans to replace most of them with technology. Taylor said he expects 1½ or 2½ positions to remain.

The wage freeze follows a freeze on the company’s 12 senior executives, including Harte, in January, the memo said.

Layoffs continue to be a part of the contracting newspaper industry, analyst John Morton said Monday.