'Star-Ledger' Appears to be Planning Unpaid Furloughs

By: Joe Strupp Executives at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. appear to be planning an unpaid furlough of staffers, as well as a pension freeze to save money.

A printout of a series of e-mails purportedly between Editor Jim Willse and Publisher George Arwady -- widely circulated among staffers at the paper for the past week and provided to E&P -- indicates discussions last week of unpaid furloughs that could reach two weeks and initial plans to announce the move as early as Monday, March 23.

"Aside from all of the questions we'll get about the pensions and furloughs, we'll need to be able to respond to the larger concerns staff will have," Willse writes to Arwady in a March 12 e-mail, according to the printout. Later he states, "Most of all, they're going to want to hear there's a plan. They'll absorb a lot if they believe it's leading someplace."

Arwady on Thursday would neither confirm nor deny any such furlough plan. Contacted again Friday about the e-mails, he stated: "I don?t want to have a conversation, thank you."

Willse, who is on vacation until Wednesday, could not be reached for comment. Calls to his cell phone were not immediately returned. Donald Newhouse, president of Advance Publications, is also out of town, according to his office.

Another apparent e-mail, from Willse to Arwady on March 11, is a draft of a message that would be sent to staffers when the announcement is made. "As I suspect you know by now, the Publisher announced (this morning/today) two cost-cutting measures -- a freeze of the pension plan and upgrade of the 401(k) program, and the need for 10 unpaid days off between now and the end of the year," it states.

Later it adds, "I don?t have to tell you that times are tough, or that responses such as these are taking place at newspapers around the country, including all the Newhouse papers. The goal remains the same -- to hunker down for as long as it takes to get through the storm and come out strong when it's over."

Several Star-Ledger staffers who have seen the printout, which was left in a meeting room one week ago, say it has sparked new concerns about the newsroom.

But at least some wonder if it is all a ploy to heighten fears about serious cutbacks before announcing lesser changes, such as only one week of furloughs for each staffer.

The reference to other Newhouse papers is unclear and could be referring only to past actions. Advance Publications owns the Newhouse papers that include the Star-Ledger as well as major dailies The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans and The Oregonian in Portland.

Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg said she knew nothing about this. Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss could not be reached for comment. Amoss's office said he is in New York.

Oregonian Editor Sandra Mims Rowe said she had no information about such a plan.

Advance's Conde Nast publications, meanwhile, is poised to make cuts to its magazine titles, according to reports this week.

If these furloughs and pension changes occur, they would be the latest setback for the Star-Ledger newsroom, which has already seen the cutback of 131 staffers through buyouts last fall; threats of closure; and the merging of its statehouse bureau with longtime rival The Record of Hackensack.