Barely a month after abruptly laying off 54 employees, The Honolulu Advertiser says it will now cut 27 more jobs as it consolidates seven community newspapers into four. The cuts come as the paper remains embroiled in a contract dispute with a local affiliate of the Newspaper Guild.The retrenchment involves the Advertiser's Pacific Media Publications arm, which produces PennySaver and Buy & Sell, as well as four of the paper's seven community newspapers on Oahu, Publisher Lee Webber said in a memo last night. "This consolidation and workforce reduction is not a reflection of the fine work of our people,'' his memo says. "Rather, it reflects the continued economic decline. The consolidation will reconfigure our company so it can thrive more efficiently and effectively for our customers as we move into the future.''
Combined with its earlier layoffs, the Advertiser will have reduced its workforce of about 700 by nearly 12% since mid-June -- one of the highest rates among all Gannett newspapers in the recent round of 600 layoffs.
Earlier: Our paper-by-paper layoff list
[Image: today's front page, Advertiser]
So what was this garbage being fed here last week about Honolulu's publisher assuring everyone there would be no layoffs there because they just completed layoffs? Looks like life on the islands is now to be nothing but non-stop layoffs and buyouts. Layoffs in la-la land forever?
ReplyDeletedickey has to pay for his planned trips to Honolulu since this paper does report directly to him.. Just think a week in Honolulu, visit the paper 1 day and play for 6 on gannett's dime.
ReplyDeleteA memo to the union membership:
ReplyDeleteSign the contract now.
Regards,
Lee Webber
From a curious outsider: What cutbacks are being made at GCI corporate? Layoffs? Downsizing at all? Reduced perks? I'm not seeing a word about belt-tightening at the top.
ReplyDeleteAT the first of the month, this piece appeared on the "Newspaper Death Watch" blog.
ReplyDeleteThe State of Hawaii has stepped into the dispute between the Honolulu Advertiser and the 54 employees, many of them union members, the paper laid off earlier this month. The Newspaper Guild has problems with how the layoffs were handled, maintaining that seniority guidelines weren't followed. Meanwhile, the union has printed up 100,000 cards that readers can send in to cancel their subscriptions in event of a strike. The thinking is that it's better to take down the Advertiser and cause a whole lot more people to lose their jobs than to have 54 employees treated unfairly.
anybody know what happened to this initiative?