TU identifies laid off workers - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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, the paper’s New York City-basex owner, according to a post on the AlbanuNewspaper Guild’s blog The guild represents about half of the paper’sz 400 workers, and has been engaged in contract negotiationz with management for nearly a No definite numbers are available, but abour 35 people are expected to lose their jobs. Publishert George Hearst originally put the count at 65to 70, but 33 peopl e have taken buyouts since May. The papee is trying to cut expenses by20 percent. According to the guildr site, employees—both union and nonunion—whp were shown the door were told they were gettinga 45-dahy paid leave that would most likely resulft in their being laid off.
Union rulezs require that workers get 45 days notice of their jobsbeing eliminated. Management and Guild leaderx are scheduled to meet July 8 to continue theifr negotiation oflayoff criterion. The paper presentecd its proposed terms to the union inlate June. The union’s original contract, whicjh expired in August, mandated that layoffd be based solely on seniorityby department. Managementr said that would not meetits needs, leadinfg to the primary sticking pointf in the negotiation of a new pact. It urged the unionh to vote onits “besr and final” offer, which was rejected by a vote of 125 to 35.
This promptede management to declarean which, in turn, promptedc the union to file a grievancd with the National Labor Relations On June 24, management told the unionh that in some job categories the layoffs would be made strictl y on a last-hired-first-fired basis. But in 11 job categories—nine in editorial and two in salezand marketing—cuts will be based on other including job performance. Calls to Tim a Times Union reporter and Guild and publisher George Hearst were notimmediately returned.