Los Angeles Times Guild Says Management Plans “Another Major Round Of Layoffs”

The Los Angeles Times is planning “another round of major layoffs,” the publication’s guild warned its members in a memo, after executive editor Kevin Merida announced his surprise departure last week.

The Los Angeles Times Guild called a meeting for noon PT today after the company informed them of the plans. The guild said that the Times has “asked the Guild to gut seniority protections in our contract so they have vastly more freedom to pick who to lay off.”

“If we agreed to their request, they could choose almost any member they want; in exchange, management would add a layer of buyouts and told us they would lay off 50 fewer Guild members from an unspecified total (though those buyouts would not be credited against the layoff total.)

Last June, the Times went through a round of layoffs that cut 13% of the newsroom, or 74 positions. They were the first undertaken by billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. That left the publication with about 500 newsroom employees, according to the Times.

Merida’s exit last week quickly generated concerns among staffers that another round of layoffs could be coming. In a memo to employees, Soon-Shiong wrote that “given the persistent challenges we face, it is now imperative that we all work together to build a sustainable business that allows for growth and innovation of the L.A. Times and L.A. Times Studios in order to achieve our vision.” 

The guild said that they could not share how many members the company wanted to lay off, but added, “This is the Big One.”

A spokesperson for the Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Times is one of many publications that has grappled with an advertising downturn and lower-then-expected digital subscriptions. The Washington Post went through a round of buyouts late last year that eliminated 240 positions.