'Jersey Journal' Guild Closes Offices as Paper Raises Price

By: Joe Strupp The reorganization plan announced two weeks ago to keep The Jersey Journal of Jersey City publishing was apparently not enough to keep its local newspaper guild office open.

With the layoffs of 17 employees -- including five in the newsroom -- as part of the plan, guild leaders say they have only seven local members left, not enough to meet the $425 monthly rent on their nearby office.

"Because our numbers are dwindling, we can't afford to keep the office open," said Guild president Ron Leir, who also lost his job in the cutback. "It is the shrinking of dues."

The Journal also raised its single-copy price as of today, increasing it from 50 cents to 60 cents, the paper announced, noting it is the first such price increase in 15 years.

Leir and other guild leaders spent last Saturday cleaning out their office on the city's west side. "At one time the local was more than 60 strong. We are consolidating down to one file cabinet. We plan to carry out the garbage and file cabinet one day next week," another guild officer who requested anonymity said in an e-mail.

Leir said those seven guild members who will remain may merge with a New York guild local. "No one person is indispensable," Leir says he has learned from the staff cuts. "We will function as best we can."

Guild leaders at the Advance Publications daily agreed April 13 to the cost-cutting plan that also gives the newspaper greater flexibility in assigning jobs and events to cover, a virtual tearing down of beat walls.

The paper has also said the reorganization includes a cutback in circulation of single-copy sales, with about 50 of the paper's 550 single-copy outlets being dropped, mostly those that sell fewer than 10 copies per day.

The new approach grew out of negotiations with several unions that began soon after the paper announced in February a possible shutdown. On April 13, the new plan was forged.

New speculation is growing that further cuts or a shutdown could come in future months, but nothing formal has been announced. Journal executives did not immediatey respond to requests for comment Monday.