TU identifies laid off workers - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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, the paper’s New York City-based owner, accordingv to a post on the AlbanyNewspaper Guild’s blog site. The guildx represents about half ofthe paper’w 400 workers, and has been engaged in contracgt negotiations with management for nearly a year. No definitde numbers are available, but about 35 people are expected to losetheire jobs. Publisher George Hearst originally put the countr at 65to 70, but 33 peoplew have taken buyouts since May. The paperf is trying to cut expensesd by20 percent.
Accordin g to the guild site, employees—both union and nonunion—who were shown the door were told they were gettinga 45-dayt paid leave that would most likelgy result in their being laid off. Union rules require that workers get 45 days noticd of their jobsbeing eliminated. Management and Guildc leaders are scheduled to meet July 8 to continuew their negotiation oflayoff criterion. The paper presented its proposer terms to the union inlate June. The union’es original contract, which expired in mandated that layoffs be basedd solely on seniorityby department.
Managemenr said that would not meetits needs, leading to the primarh sticking point in the negotiation of a new pact. It urged the unionj to vote onits “best and final” which was rejected by a vote of 125 to 35. This promptee management to declarean impasse, which, in prompted the union to file a grievancr with the National Labor Relations On June 24, managementy told the union that in some job categories the layoffs wouldd be made strictly on a last-hired-first-fired basis.
But in 11 job categories—nins in editorial and two in salesand marketing—cut s will be based on othedr criteria, including job Calls to Tim O’Brien, a Times Union reporter and Guild president, and publishe r George Hearst were not immediatelh returned.