Al Diamon
More Layoffs at Blethen
Late Friday afternoon, Blethen Maine Newspapers publisher Charles Cochrane issued a memo to all staff at the company’s three daily papers – the Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville – announcing there would be another round of layoffs in August. This would be the fourth round of cutbacks in the past 12 months and, according to company officials and union representatives, it will be at least as large as the most recent layoffs in July, when the company cut 36 jobs.
Cochrane cited the Blethen’s “fragile financial situation” as the reason for the cuts, saying advertising revenues were expected to fall $1.2 million below budget in the second half of this year.
“The economy has continued to worsen,” the publisher wrote, “and our business results are reflecting that. June advertising volumes were even worse than we had forecast, and it is now certain that July will also come in below expectations …. In order to meet our commitments to our debt holders, we must reduce operating expenses by a comparable amount [about $1.2 million].”
The number of staff reductions and the positions to be cut will be announced on August 18.
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Check your links, Al.
The latest cuts also serve to weaken both the product and the morale of those who remain. I'm sure a great many of those left are madly looking for an escape pod right about now.
The more folks jump ship, the easier it will be for the new owners to wipe out the union and start over. And the ones that remain are voting themselves out of the job pool - sticking around as the ship sails right into the iceberg isn't the brightest action plan.
The correct link is:
pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=200339&ac=PHbiz