By: E&P Staff In the second round of layoffs in about a month, The Honolulu Advertiser said Tuesday it is eliminating 27 jobs in its Pacific Media Publications community newspaper group.
With the fresh rounds of cuts, the Gannett Co.-owned paper will have reduced its workforce by about 10%. Earlier, the Advertiser announced the layoff of 54 employees at the daily.
The layoffs were first reported on the Advertisers Web site in an article by staff writer Rick Daysog.
The reduction comes as management and the Hawaii Newspaper Guild, which represents about 325 Advertiser employees, continue talks over a bargaining contract that has been extended since its June 2007 expiration. Union members have not received an across-the-board pay raise since October, 2006.
"It certainly does not reflect a move toward trying to get a contract," Wayne Cahill, the Guild local's administrative officer, told Daysog.
On Monday, 13 union-represented journalists who write blogs for the Advertiser Web site began a "blog strike," refusing to update entries to protest the slow pace of talks. The union members are not paid extra for producing the blogs.
Publisher Lee Webber also announced Tuesday that Pacific Media Publications, which publishes seven community newspapers on Oahu plus two shoppers, will be moved into the daily's operation, and the seven papers will be consolidated into three.
"We sincerely believe this decision -- though very difficult -- will put our company on a course to a stronger position as we move forward," Webber said in a statement.
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