Pay Hike Delayed At Canadian Papers p.

By: Alan Harmon

Toronto Sun Publishing Corp. blames shrinking advertising revenue in the Toronto market for the action taken at two of its papers sp.

THE TORONTO SUN Publishing Corp. announced that it has delayed a 2% pay increase due to take effect Nov. 1 and instead has offered early retirement and voluntary buyout packages in an effort to cut $3.5 million (Canadian) from its payroll.
The company blamed the moves taken at its Toronto Sun and Financial Post on shrinking advertising revenues in the Toronto market.
The voluntary retirement package, offered to 80 employees at the two newspapers who are 55 and older, would provide a lump-sum payment of up to six weeks for every year of service plus bridging of the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security to usual retirement age.
The Sun also is offering a buyout program for full-time staffers that would pay three weeks of salary for every year of continuous full-time service to a maximum of one year of pay.
The company said the cost of the early retirements and buyouts could be as much as $8 million. It plans to complete the program by the end of this year.
Sun publisher Jim Tighe said the Toronto newspaper had managed to avoid the impact of falling ad revenue for much of the recession but it began to be hurt by the slump in the last half of 1992 and into this year.
He said that in the latest quarter, the Toronto advertising market was down 14% from the same period a year ago while linage at the Sun was down 17%.
"It's been down and down for so long that waiting for the inevitable recovery probably wouldn't be a good idea," Tighe said.
Post publisher Doug Knight said the paper was losing money but with circulation growing, the outlook was better.
"What we're doing is prudent management of our overhead but I don't want to give the impression it's a negative message about our prospects," Knight said.
Eliminating the wage hike would save the Post $312,000 (Canadian) a year.
Knight said year-over-year advertising at the Post fell 20% in June, 9% in August and 14% in September.
"The marketplace in the summer fell out of bed," he said. "It looks like advertising revenues could be flat with 1992 or below."
Toronto Sun Publishing owns Sun tabloids in Toronto; Ottawa, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta; and Calgary, Alberta; 60% of the Post, a number of smaller papers in western Canada and a Florida newspaper.