Report: New York Times Offers Buyouts In Newsroom; Layoffs Could Follow
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The New York Times has offered buyout packages to 30 newsroom staffers, and a report Monday said layoffs could follow.
A New York Times article Monday said the newspaper announced on Monday morning that it will offer buyout packages to newsroom employees, with the goal of cutting managers and other non-union employees from its books. But the company is also offering employees who belong to the Newspaper Guild buyouts, the article said.
In a letter to the Times staff that was published in the article, executive editor Jill Abramson said she was seeking 30 non-union managers to accept buyouts by Jan. 24. Abramson said in the letter that there was "no getting around the hard news" that the size of the newsroom staff must be cut," the report said.
Abramson said in the letter said she hoped the buyouts would be sufficient to achieve the needed budget cuts, but if they are not, "I will be forced to go to layoffs among the excluded staff," the Times reported.
Abramson also said in the note that the business side has cut its staff by over 60 percent in recent years, and buyouts have already been offered to 30 members of the advertising department, the Time reported.
In 2008, the New York Times newsroom eliminated 100 jobs through layoffs and buyouts, the newspaper reported.
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