'Star Tribune' to Cut Newsroom Budget 10%

By: Mark Fitzgerald Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes has been told she will have to cut $2.5 million, or about 10%, from the annual newsroom budget, a Newspaper Guild local official said Friday.

The Guild was told of the cut in bargaining sessions, and Barnes has been letting the staff know about the cut, David Chanen, co-chair of the union's Star Tribune unit said in a telephone interview.

"I think we're both [union and management] looking at it as, if that's the final number we need to get at, we're hoping no jobs will be lost," Chanen said. "To that point, Nancy's made it very clear she doesn't want layoffs, and that's obviously our hope, too."

Barnes declined comment to E&P, citing ongoing labor negotiations.

In February, the Star Tribune laid off 58 employees, most of them in the circulation department. The paper also froze wages for all non-union positions. Publisher Chris Harte has said the paper's total revenue has fallen by $75 million in the last two years.

Last week, the paper denied a New York Post report that it was "on the verge of bankruptcy." It has hired The Blackstone Group to "restructure" its finances.

The current Guild contract, which has run for five years, expires July 31, and formal bargaining between the two sides began May 8.

Chanen said the bargaining sessions have been "very candid."

"Folks that have been in previous negotiations said they are less adversarial than they have been," he said. This is the first Guild negotiation at the paper under its owners Avista Capital Partners owners. The private-equity group bought the paper from The McClatchy Co. in 2006.