PD staffers facing layoffs

The Cleveland Plain Dealer plans to lay off staffers in the marketing, finance, information technology, pre-press and building service departments, according to the Save the Plain Dealer Campaign’s Facebook page.
 
Poynter confirmed the information with two sources at the paper after seeing the Facebook post but has not yet heard back from management.

The Facebook post, which has dozens of comments, says the layoffs were expected to occur Wednesday night. The Advance-owned Plain Dealer has cut home delivery, and the likelihood of layoffs has been widely reported.
The Facebook post — which says “newsroom employees will go through similar layoffs at a later date” — reads in part:

The Save The Plain Dealer campaign has said it before, and will keep repeating: These changes, which are devastating to the paper’s loyal workforce and will diminish the journalism that readers depend on, ARE NOT NECESSARY. Other newspapers are adopting innovative and far less disruptive strategies that allow them to continue to serve their readers and maintain journalistic excellence while confronting the challenges of the digital era.

Terry Egger, Andrea Hogben and Virginia Wang sent this note to staffers on Wednesday:

In September of 2012 we announced that we would begin the process of designing the best business model that would safeguard the future of this enterprise, ensure our leadership in the market, uphold our journalistic standards and continue our mission to serve the Northeastern Ohio community for years to come.

As we announced in our prior communications on April 4, 2013, to ensure that we are positioned to remain Northeast Ohio’s number one source for news and information in the ever-changing media environment, the Northeast Ohio Media Group will be launched later this summer and the Plain Dealer Publishing Company will adopt a new home delivery schedule for the newspaper.
These changes require a redesign of our operations that will result in a realignment of the workforce. These are difficult decisions, but are necessary.
From approximately 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. tonight, certain employees in the following departments (Advertising, Marketing, Prepress, Finance, Information Technology and Building Services) will receive a phone call informing them that they are being separated from employment. Employees who are not notified this evening should report for work at their next regularly scheduled time.
Employees who are called will be provided a time to meet tomorrow (June 20) with a Human Resources representative at the Tiedeman Production and Distribution Center. At that time, each impacted employee will receive a copy of his/her severance information and will also be given transitional details, including meeting with a representative Right Management, a company that specializes in transitional programs.
We will go through a similar process with employees in the remaining divisions at a later date.
We sincerely regret having to go through this process and we thank all who are impacted for their years of service and wish them all the best for their future.