Today, the Los Angeles Times Guild reached a deal with The Times to avoid more than 80 layoffs and other cuts to our newsroom. From May 10 to August 1, our journalists will work a 20% reduced weekly schedule to cut payroll by more than $2 million while we weather this unprecedented economic crisis. There will be no more newsroom layoffs this quarter.
We are thankful that management accepted our proposal to avert layoffs, but this is a painful cut. Like the vast majority of newsrooms across the country, The Times has lost significant revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite historic demand for our journalism.
With management unable to maintain full funding or secure other financial support for our newsroom, our union researched alternatives to keep our journalists employed and able to support family members who are now out of work.
We discovered a potent, but little-known, layoff prevention program known as “work-sharing.” Employers who participate in work-sharing can avoid layoffs during a temporary downturn by shortening employees’ hours. Workers maintain health and retirement benefits and are allowed to collect prorated unemployment benefits to offset lost wages. When the downturn ends, hours are restored.
These programs saved more than 500,000 U.S. jobs during the Great Recession. Crucially, the federal CARES Act stimulus has significantly strengthened work-sharing benefits through July 31. We estimate the stimulus will allow most of our members to fully recover their lost wages through the work-sharing program, buying critical time for our parent union, the NewsGuild, to advocate for alternatives that would help bring local newsrooms like ours back to full strength during this historic news event.
Work-sharing is rarely used in journalism despite its obvious utility for an industry known for layoffs. We strongly encourage other newsrooms to examine work-sharing as a possible alternative to cuts in states where the program is available.
Together, we will get through this crisis.