Newsday appears to be falling short of its goal of getting 100 employees to accept voluntary buyout packages.
The Long Island daily had said that if it didn’t get the desired number of volunteers it would resort to mandatory layoffs. The editorial department appears to be close to its goal, but is still short.
Sources said the pressmen – who run the paper’s mammoth Goss Metroliner presses – appear even more reluctant to step away with a voluntary buyout.
Sources said the company hoped to get 27 pressmen to accept buyout packages. “It looks like they only got about eight,” said Dennis Grabhorn, president of Local 406 of the Graphic Communications International Union.
Tribune was also looking for 50 journalists to accept the buyouts.
“It looks like they will only get about 35,” said Grabhorn. But he said he was speaking only of the unionized workers and did not know how many from the non-unionized ranks will exit as well.
In printing, Grabhorn says, the company wants to base seniority on overall time spent working at the Tribune-owned newspaper.
The union wants to base any mandatory cuts on years spent working as a journeyman pressman, in accordance with longstanding tradition.
In addition, he claims the company used that criteria in 1995 when New York Newsday closed its doors. Newsday at the time was still owned by Times-Mirror Corp., which subsequently was sold to Tribune.
“I’m shocked that the new management team is being as arrogant as they are,” Grabhorn said. He said he is seeking arbitration over the seniority issue and has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
“We’re following the language of the pressroom contract,” a Newsday spokesman said. “Any layoffs will be done strictly according to company service.”
Layoffs may further demoralize and inflame worker relations.
Newsday and its Spanish-language sister publication, Hoy, have set aside $90 million to compensate advertisers for falsely inflating circulation over several years.
Newsday was not sure how many voluntary buyouts were received. Workers who opt for the buyout have up to seven days to change their minds, so a final tally may not be known until Dec. 8.