Memphis Newspaper Guild president Wayne Risher:
With sadness and regret, I must inform you that the Memphis Newspaper Guild was notified today, Tuesday morning, by The Commercial Appeal that 9 Guild covered employees will lose their jobs by Dec. 20 as part of a reduction in force. The company, confirming rumors that had been swirling for the last few months, said job reductions would be made to cut expenses and achieve efficiencies in the business. The company said names of affected employees could be released to the guild later today.
Management gave this breakdown in cuts in guild-covered jobs by department: 1 in editorial, 2 in accounting, 2 in online services, 1 in advertising, 3 in operations. No information was provided on cuts of non-guild-covered employees, although it is our understanding the reduction is building-wide. This notification begins dialogue between the Guild and the company designed to avoid unnecessary hardships, as provided in our collective bargaining agreement. We stand ready to advocate on the affected employees’ behalf to make sure they receive proper credit for unused vacation/holiday time and other benefits.
This week, The Commercial Appeal rolled out its new online paywall, as well:
The paywall is part of a larger digital gameplan. Here’s the deal for print subscribers:
As a subscriber to The Commercial Appeal, you receive all access to the newly-developed mobile apps as a value-added feature. The convenience of accessing the information you want wherever you are via a mobile device is one of the most significant innovations in journalistic history. We will continue to provide the value you expect from the most trusted source of news in Memphis.
Non-subscribers, $9.99 a month brings full access to the newspaper’s web site and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Daily passes can be purchased for 99¢. One account can be used on up to five devices.
The CA announced these changes at the end of October.
The paper still offers a Kindle version for $6.99 a month.
I fully understand that newspapers like the CA makes less money than they used to, but firing people in online services, advertising and editorial the week a new paywall goes up just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
I’m still on the fence about paying. I probably will spend the ten bucks a month, but I’d like to know the CA is doing everything it can to keep people employed.