By: E&P Staff MediaNews Group's Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB) newspapers in California plan to lay off 18 newsroom employees, but is first offering volunteers a sweetened severance package.
In a memo to employees, BANG-EB Executive Editor Kevin Keane said the 18 employees being let go include managers and unionized employees. BANG-EB newspapers include The Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times.
Involuntarily laid-off employees will get a week's pay for each year of service, to a maximum of 12 weeks. Volunteers would get an extra week's pay for each year of service to a maximum of eight weeks pay. The company will also pay the employer portion of Cobra benefits for health care for three months, Keane said.
Keane said the deadline for volunteering is this Wednesday.
"I had always held out hope that business would bounce back quickly enough that we would be able to avoid further staff reductions this fiscal year," Keane wrote. "Unfortunately whatever rebound there is in this economy hasn't reached the advertising market yet. We project revenues will continue their skid well into next year, which means expenses will need to come down accordingly."
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