April 2, 2009

More newsroom and pay cuts at Journal Sentinel

More bad news for employees of the Journal Sentinel.

The third round of newsroom buyouts in a year and a half seeks to cut another 16 journalists, in an effort to shave $1.2 million from the payroll. Previous newsroom cuts reduced the staff by 10 percent and five percent; this would slice away another 8 percent.

But that's just the newsroom. Elsewhere in Journal Communications operations, a 6 percent wage cut has been imposed on all employees -- in return for an additional 10 personal days.

Meanwhile, closer to home at the Journal Times, we hear some better news. We had earlier reported that Lee -- following an industry trend -- had instituted mandatory furloughs for all employees this Spring. Well, either we were wrong or they've been canceled. According to a number of employees we've spoken to, there are no furloughs for JT employees at this time, thanks to the restructuring of the company's debt burden in February. And Lee's stock has clawed its way up to 35 cents per share, back from a low of 24 cents.

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