'Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' Offers Newsroom Buyouts

By: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is offering buyouts to newsroom employees in hopes of cutting the equivalent of 18 full-time positions.

The newspaper says it will lay off workers if enough don't take the buyouts by the Dec. 5 deadline.

R.J. Hufnagel, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, says about 100 union workers are eligible. The buyouts are based on the workers' age and experience and include up to a year's salary and health care coverage, plus an option to purchase up to two years' extra health insurance.

General manager Chris Chamberlain says the cuts are driven by the "challenging economic environment" and that the paper is cutting union and nonunion staff in other parts of its operation.