Sacramento Bee Staffers Approve Pay Cuts
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Newspaper Guild members at The Sacramento Bee agreed Friday to take pay cuts of up to 6 percent to save jobs at the 152-year-old paper.
Members voted 65 percent to 35 percent to accept the deal, said Ed Fletcher, a reporter who heads the Guild's local at the Bee.
Even with the pay cuts, Bee managers plan to cut 34 of the 268 Guild-covered positions in the editorial and advertising departments. Another 19 jobs would have been in jeopardy if the union had rejected the pay cuts.
"I think it was a very difficult decision for unit members," Fletcher said. "On the one hand, you wanted to save the jobs for other people. But on the other hand, it's difficult to absorb a series of pay cuts on top of a salary freeze that's been in effect for a year already."
He said union members were voting under a cloud of uncertainty. Even by accepting the pay cuts, there was no assurance that they would keep their jobs if the recession and the Bee's revenue picture get worse.
Under the proposal, Guild-covered employees earning at least $50,000 a year would have their pay cut 6 percent. Employees making between $25,000 and $50,000 would lose 3 percent. Those making $25,000 or less would not face a wage cut.
The agreement also allows the newspaper's management to require employees to take a week of unpaid leave. Employees will be able to carry over no more than one week of unused vacation time from one year to the next.
Calls to McClatchy's corporate headquarters after the vote were referred to Bee Publisher Cheryl Dell, who was unavailable for comment. Linda Brooks, the Bee's vice president for human resources, was quoted by the newspaper as saying the Bee was "very grateful" for the union's approval of the cuts.
The Bee is the 25th top-selling newspaper in the nation, with average weekday circulation of 253,249, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Its average Sunday circulation is 299,207.
The layoffs are the latest in a series of cutbacks at the Bee, one of 30 daily newspapers owned by Sacramento-based McClatchy Co. The Bee eliminated 86 positions last June as part of a 10 percent cut affecting all McClatchy papers and gave buyouts to another 87 employees in September, including 23 in its newsroom.
Similar pay-cut packages will be voted on next week by Guild members at two other McClatchy newspapers in California, The Modesto Bee and The Fresno Bee.
The newspaper industry has seen advertising revenue fall in recent years as advertisers migrate to the Internet, particularly to Craigslist and other sites offering free or low-cost alternatives for classified ads. Starting last summer, the recession intensified the decline in advertising revenue.
McClatchy said last month it was looking for $100 million to $110 million in cuts over 12 months. Besides seeing ad revenue plunge, McClatchy has some $2 billion in debt remaining from its 2006 purchase of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain.
Employees at another major Northern California newspaper also face a difficult decision soon.
The fate of the San Francisco Chronicle could be determined in a vote expected to be held next week. As part of its attempts to reverse more than $50 million in annual losses, the paper's management is proposing to lay off about 150 unionized workers in the news, advertising and circulation departments.
The Chronicle will provide severance packages of up to 52 weeks if a majority of the roughly 480 workers belonging to the union agree to a list of concessions that includes less vacation time and longer work weeks for the same wage. The pension plan also would face a major overhaul.
If the workers aren't willing to modify their labor contract, the Chronicle's management is threatening to lay off 225 employees with less generous severance packages, according to the California Media Workers Guild, the union handling the negotiations.
Hearst Corp., the Chronicle's owner, insists deep cuts must be made to keep the 144-year-old newspaper alive. If it can't wring out enough savings, the New York-based publisher plans to sell or shut down the Chronicle, Northern California's largest daily newspaper.
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Associated Press Business Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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STEVE LAWRENCE | 03/ 6/09 10:36 PM |