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Things seem to be falling apart at the Los Angeles Times. Today the staff held a walkout to protest layoffs which, though they haven’t been announced yet, are expected to reduce the size of the staff by about twenty percent.
The Times disclosed Thursday that substantial layoffs were coming due to a widening budget deficit. The one-day strike represents the newsroom’s first union-organized work stoppage in the paper’s 142-year history.
Management has not publicly disclosed the number of newsroom positions that will be eliminated, but knowledgeable people said the plan is to lay off at least 100 journalists, or about 20% of the newsroom — the largest staff cut since the paper was owned by Tribune Co…
The proposed layoffs will mark the third round of cuts since June, when more than 70 positions, or about 13% of the newsroom, were trimmed…
“As you navigate financial pressures in our industry, we urge you to avoid undoing the diversity that we’ve worked so hard to build,” the Guild Caucus leaders wrote. “Layoffs would be catastrophic, eliminating new and essential voices and diminishing the gains we’ve made under your family’s leadership.”
Under union rules the way this is supposed to work is that the last hired are the first to go. Management told the union that as many as 50 jobs could be saved if they were willing to drop the seniority rules, i.e. if management could clear out some of the more senior people making the most money instead of the lower paid staff. That angered the union members who instead of making this “impossible choice” elected to hold the one day walkout.
My favorite part of the union’s response is their plea for the owner not to spoil the “diversity” they’ve built. The paper is falling apart and that’s their concern. Meanwhile back in reality, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire who bought the paper for $500 million in 2017, has been covering its losses, reportedly writing $1 million dollar checks every week in some cases.
