Sun-Times Braces For More Newsroom Cuts
By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 11, 2015 6:30PM
The Chicago Sun-Times is bracing for more staff cuts and this latest round will run deep. Robert Feder reports The Bright One could ax nearly a quarter of its newsroom staff starting Wednesday. Sun-Times parent company Wrapports LLC and the Chicago Newspaper Guild negotiated a buyout agreement, and according to a source all 68 newsroom staffers are eligible for buyouts. Wrapports is looking to cut 12-15 jobs—up to 22 percent of the paper’s workforce.
Staffers who are offered buyouts would have a week to accept the offers, which come out to 20 weeks of severance pay for the most senior members on staff. If not enough positions are eliminated through the buyout process, layoffs will ensue. Staffers who are laid off typically receive 8-13 weeks severance pay. Sun-Times publisher and editor-in-chief Jim Kirk said they hope to have the process completed no later than Feb. 17.
This is the latest hit for the Sun-Times, which is stuck in a downward spiral of declining revenues and circulation. The paper cut its video team recently as Wrapports focuses on its Sun Times Network. Wrapports has shed print properties such as its Pioneer Press suburban holdings and now holds the Sun-Times and Reader as its major print holdings.