Subject: Layoffs and Downsizing

• Britney, Britney, Britney

  September 10, 2007

• BetterKnowAnSFBlog: Valleywag Dogs Silicon Valley

  October 23, 2007

• Rhapsody Lays Off 24 Today, 12 Two Weeks Ago?

  February 1, 2008

• Former Employee Flicks Off Mercury News on Flickr

  July 3, 2008

• Newspaper Management Strikes Back

  July 4, 2008

• Newspaper Union Accuses Company Of Retaliation

  July 15, 2008

• East Bay Newspaper Managers Continue to Cut Jobs

  November 7, 2008

• East Bay Newspapers Rescind Layoffs... Temporarily

  By John Geluardi Bay Area News Group – East Bay) managers have rescinded the eight newsroom layoffs they announced last week after the company’s new union filed a complaint with the National Labors Relations Board. Managers told the eight employees who are part of the bargaining unit that they could come back to work or stay at home and collect full pay until the situation is resolved. The Bay Area News Group – East Bay (BANG), is a cluster of newspapers owned by Media News Group,

  November 14, 2008

• Fledgling Newspaper Union Appeals Labor Board Decision

  By John Geluardi Three Contra Costa Times reporters, who say they were targeted for layoffs once they succeeded in forming a union, filed an appeal last week with the federal labor board after the board rejected their initial complaint for lack of evidence. Last July, just weeks after organizers established the first newspaper union to be formed in the United States in over 40 years, managers laid off 29 newsroom employees, 21 of whom happened to be involved in union organizing efforts. The

  December 29, 2008

• Veteran Bay Area Journo David Weir Laid Off from New Media Site

  Yikes.That was the collective reaction in the newsroom here at SF Weekly when we heard that David Weir, one of the deans of Bay Area journalism, had been laid off from the Web site Predictify. Weir's news-business credentials are sterling: His past gigs include investigative reporter at Rolling Stone, Editor in Chief at 7x7 magazine, managing editor for Salon.com, executive vice president at KQED, and managing editor of Mother Jones. He was also executive director and co-founder of the Center

  January 13, 2009

• So, Would City Unions Really Cut Back Hours to Stave Off Layoffs Like Obama Wants? This Union Head Says Yes

  To say San Francisco is enthralled with our new president is putting it a bit mildly. If, during his inaugural address yesterday, he'd have instructed us to shout "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" out the window -- well, skip to three minutes, 16 seconds here, and you'll see what the city would have looked like yesterday.  So, yesterday President Obama mentioned this:For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the

  January 21, 2009

• MediaNews Lawyer Denies Ex-Reporter's Discrimination Claims

  A lawyer for MediaNews Group says the newspaper chain plans to deny allegations of discrimination in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a former reporter at the Monterey County Herald. Andre Briscoe, a black man who worked at the MediaNews-owned Herald from August 2005 through January 2008, asserts in the lawsuit that he was paid less than other reporters because of his race and fired in retaliation for complaining about discrimination to the paper's human resources department. He is suing t

  January 27, 2009

• Funemployment: Jobless young San Franciscans are welcoming the worst recession of their lives with open arms. Too bad the party can't last forever.

  June 3, 2009

• Rec & Park Workers Terrified Over Looming Layoffs Amid New Hirings of $100K Managers -- and Ready to Rally

  The Recreation and Parks Department has found another way to get folks out of the pool: Cut jobs and cut hoursYou have to feel for Jared Blumenfeld. Taking over the city's Recreation and Parks Department -- especially on an interim basis -- is like being handed a feather duster and being asked to tidy the hotel suite after Mötley Crüe has completed their coke-fueled orgy. In short, Rec & Parks may be the biggest mess in San Francisco government. Think about the ramifications of that statem

  February 19, 2009

• Aisle Seat

  May 17, 1995

• Labor Groups, Babies, Very Old People, Supes Rally Against Rec & Park Cuts -- But Layoffs May Already Be Fait Accompli

  Supervisor John Avalos told Rec & Parks workers he'd like to help them -- but he has no idea how. He still got a friendly round of applauseFashion-wise, children often make the best accessories. Far better than purple tchochkes -- but at today's SEIU City Hall rally on behalf of soon-to-be laid off San Francisco recreation directors, there were plenty of both. A succession of Recreation & Parks Department workers, labor leaders, baby-toting moms, little kids, a bevy of elderly Chinese pe

  February 19, 2009

• Armageddon for the Chronicle Here? Debate Amongst Yourselves

  In the near future, this meteor strike may be a wire story for the Chronicle -- if the paper still existsHow many cuts can one newspaper take until there is no longer a newspaper? Like all dailies around the country, the San Francisco Chronicle seems to be running just that experiment -- with the latest development being the news that the paper's owner, Hearst Corp., is threatening to shut the whole bugger down if they don't implement "significant" staff cuts soon or find a buyer.

  February 25, 2009

• Wall Street Journal Highlights How 86-Year-Old Badminton Fanatic Aced San Francisco

  The comedian Alexei Sayle used to say that "you can't fight city hall -- but you can take a crap on the steps and run away." Well, he was wrong. You can do both, and Ed Leong is living proof of it -- at least the fighting part. An article appearing today in the Wall Street Journal recounts how the rail-thin, 86-year-old badminton aficionado did what virtually no other individual or city department has been able to do of late -- he fought the draconian cuts and actions the city has undertaken i

  March 4, 2009

• Chronicle Newsroom to be Decimated

  Stop the presses! Actually, don't do that -- even we here in alt-weekly land don't want to see the demise of the city's last paid-circulation daily paper, the San Francisco Chronicle. But things are looking grim over at Fifth & Mission. Today, the union that represents Chron reporters met with members and shared the outlines of a deal offered by management that would result in major cuts to the newsroom. Actually, it's hard to describe management's offer as a "deal." But when a paper i

  March 5, 2009

• More Details Due Today on Chronicle's Potential Union Deal

  Sorry Jinx. We're laying you off.The only factor delaying the announcement of a time and place for a possible Thursday union vote on whether to accept the San Francisco Chronicle's latest offer is the securing of "a large enough facility" -- which, sadly, would have been a lot harder to do a decade ago when the paper's news staff was twice as large. It figures to be far easier following this coming vote.  Further details are promised today on the tentative deal struck last night between Hea

  March 10, 2009

• But Is It Art? SFAI Students, Riled By School's Move To Drop Nine Tenured Faculty, To Blockade Building.

  It doesn't take a Ph.D to interpret the deeper meanings of this mural recently created by SFAI studentsA last-minute announcement went out this morning that students at the San Francisco Art Institute are mad as hell -- and they're not going to take it anymore. Spurred by the February announcement that nine tenured faculty members -- one quarter of the school's total -- were to be laid off due to a state of "financial exigency" -- and following a month of letter-writing, online petitions, and pr

  April 3, 2009

• This Will Pinch a Little

  January 16, 2008

• Gate Keepers

  July 25, 2007

• Monster Mashed

  March 7, 2007

• Time Off! The Unemployed Guide to San Francisco

  March 31, 2004

• Sol Brothers

  September 3, 2003

• Dog Bites

  March 7, 2001

• Dog Bites

  February 7, 2001

• Dog Bites

  December 3, 1997

• Wired Frays

  An editor is not hired; three key players flit away; layoffs begin

  November 19, 1997

• Letters

  November 19, 1997

• That's Just the Sound of the Employment Rate Whizzing Past Your Ears

  The California Employment Development Department released their latest statistics pertaining to unemployment and industry today, and guess what? They are not awesome. California hit a record high of 11.2 percent unemployment in March, which is nearly five points higher than March of last year. San Francisco County's unemployment rate, at 9.0, was higher than both Marin County and San Mateo County.San Francisco, San Mateo, and Redwood City are lumped together in the report as a metropolitan area.

  April 17, 2009

• Letters

  March 15, 1995

• Gavin Newsom is no civil service reformer

  May 6, 2009

• Hammer To Fall: Layoffs Resume at Chronicle

  In a sad spin on the righteous adage, layoffs delayed are not layoffs denied. Last month, a number of San Francisco Chronicle employees told us that staffers were bracing for the "final" round of layoffs, which was supposed to come on April 17. Well, it didn't -- which led staffers to tell us they felt like rats in the cage of a python who wasn't hungry (yet). He's hungry today. A pair of sources confirmed to SF Weekly that, among others, reporters John Koopman, Jonathan Curiel, and Tyche Hendri

  May 7, 2009

• Guild: Chron Layoff Count From Past Two Days Reaches 39; 151 Have Departed Since March

  The Media Workers Guild announced this afternoon that the final tally for the San Francisco Chronicle's two-day layoff binge was 39 departed Guild workers: 18 on the newsroom side and 21 in advertising, ad production, and other commercial departments. As reported yesterday, the Chron dismissed a number of its most veteran and respected writers; seven reporters and an editor were reported to have been laid off from the Metro Desk alone. The Guild announcement notes that 151 union employees have v

  May 8, 2009

• JROTC Is Saved. Its Instructors Are Not.

  JROTC students may have gone home whooping about the 4-3 school board vote last night that reinstated the program, but today the JROTC instructors are doing anything but. That's because although the program will go forward next year, the board also voted to lay off its instructors. District officials say it was a formality in the event some schools don't have enough students to enroll in the program for next year. By law, any employee who isn't laid off by May 15 must be paid for the entire foll

  May 13, 2009

• SEIU's New Pact With City Looks Remarkably Like Old Pact -- But Won't Save Jobs of 288 Workers Dismissed Today

  For the SEIU Local 1021, it may be time to paraphrase The Who: Meet the new wage concessions package, same as the old wage concessions package. Specific details for the deal weren't immediately available -- the bargain was only cut in the wee hours this morning -- but the major pillars of the agreement appear to be virtually identical to the wage concession package the SEIU rank and file shockingly voted down last week.The big difference is, after today, there will be 288 fewer workers to vote o

  May 22, 2009

• Businesses feel trapped by costs of Union Square's Business Improvement District

  June 10, 2009

• Bay Area News Group East Bay's Newsrooms Just Got a Lot Roomier -- 17 Shown the Door

  http://www.big13.netAnd the time for newsroom layoffs -- is nowAn e-mail ominously titled "staff changes" was moments ago circulated to employees of the Bay Area News Group in the East Bay. Kevin Keane -- the chain's executive editor and the author of the memo -- seems to have the same definition of "changes" that Mayor Gavin Newsom does for the word "solutions." Let's just say that the ranks of BANG-EB newsroom employees have just been thinned. The company owns all the major dailies in the Ea

  July 15, 2009

• And They're Off: Chronicle Commences its Latest Round of Layoffs

  ​After the San Francisco Chonicle's management last week told the Media Workers Guild it was in a layoffy mood, everyone was left to ponder all the big journalistic questions: Who? When? How many?If you picked Monday, Aug. 31 in your layoff pool -- congratulations. The Chron started -- but did not finish -- its latest round of attrition by sending off a quartet of union workers from its classified sales staff yesterday afternoon. Guild representative Carl T. Hall said he expects more layoffs t

  September 1, 2009

• Layoffs Commence -- Yes, Again -- At the Chronicle

  ​Word from the Chronicle newsroom came SF Weekly's way this afternoon that the paper's "after Labor Day" layoff date is right here, right now. Newspaper employees were informed less than an hour ago that the paper is, once again, downsizing. A bulletin was sent out by the Newspaper Guild that Chronicle management notified the union that "newsroom layoffs are expected to begin this afternoon." The number of workers, departments in which they toil, or duration of this round of layoffs was not di

  September 16, 2009

• More Shake-Ups at San Francisco SPCA

  ​ After being closed all day Thursday for a series of mandatory staff meetings, San Francisco's SPCA re-opened today -- but not, it seems, with all the services available previously. The SPCA has now posted on its Web site that its internationally renowned Academy for Dog Trainers -- which instructed animal trainers from around the nation and world -- will be shut down. Instructors Jean Donaldson and Janis Bradley will be working to "develop a new educational offering outside the SF SPCA."&nbs

  October 2, 2009

• SEIU's Claim Mayor 'Broke Promise' to Union Is a Tough Sell

  ​Yesterday's contentious SEIU protest at City Hall was both similar to and different from the protests that proceeded it. It was different in that it featured a 14-foot-tall puppet and some sort of altercation with a Native American group. And it was the same in that it probably won't save the jobs of the 500 or more public health and clerical workers whose imminent dismissal was the impetus for the whole demonstration. Regardless of where one falls on unions, this is a shame -- these are rela

  November 13, 2009

• So, How Many SEIU Workers are Facing Layoffs? Depends on Whom You Ask.

  'Jetson, depending upon whom you ask and whether or not you factor in several semantic games, you may or may not be fired!' ​The big news of the day in the city -- other than our pending return to a quasi-barter economy; I'll exchange two chickens for a scrape of gold off the City Hall dome I can trade to the Ron Paul supporter down the street for some mittens -- is the ongoing battle regarding pending layoffs in the health department. Yet it seems unclear just how many workers stand to lose t

  November 19, 2009

• Breaking: Board Votes to Save SEIU Jobs -- Until Mid December

  'Jetson, until Dec. 15 and possibly thereafter, you are not fired!'​UPDATE, 5:30 P.M.: MAYORAL SPOKESMAN SAYS NO MONEY WILL BE SPENT TO STAVE OFF LAYOFFS; DETAILS BELOWIt'd be cruel to lay off scads of city workers right before Thanksgiving -- so let's think about axing 'em right before Christmas. Okay, it's not that simple. But that's essentially the thinking behind the Board of Supervisors' actions today, in which they potentially staved off the possibility of laying off an indeterminate num

  November 24, 2009

• What Did SEIU Hope to Gain Via Quixotic Quest to Change Newsom's Mind?

  ​As SF Weekly and others reported yesterday, the SEIU convinced eight supervisors to borrow nearly $2 million -- from funds already earmarked for workers' salaries -- to stave off layoffs, pay cuts, and job reassignments in the Department of Public Health. And, because San Francisco's governmental system works this way, Mayor Gavin Newsom said he doesn't give a damn. Eight supes, 11 supes, even God descending from heaven and casting a 12th vote -- it doesn't matter. The supes can allocate all

  November 25, 2009

• SEIU Organizer on Doomed Campaign: 'What Else Could We Do?'

  ​The other day we wondered just what the SEIU was thinking in running a large, highly visible, public campaign to stave off layoffs -- when the one and only person who could prevent them, Mayor Gavin Newsom, was already quite firm in his position. And he and the SEIU -- well, they're not seeing eye to eye.SEIU organizer Robert Haaland wasn't able to get back to us right away -- he was leading a troupe of laid-off workers to offer testimonials to Newsom (ah, well, Newsom's adviser Mike Farrah).

  November 27, 2009

• City: Nurses Will Be Paid More Here Even With Slashed Salaries

  City nursing assistants will soon be paid far less to deal with the R.P. McMurphys of the world​The city of San Francisco's response to hundreds of nurses who stand to lose perhaps $14,000 a year in compensation: You don't know how good you've got it. The Department of Human Resources is circulating a survey of nurses' compensation in San Francisco and surrounding counties that states San Francisco nurses will still be better compensated than their nearby colleagues, even after suffering pay c

  November 27, 2009

• Much Ado About 'Bumping'? Only One School Affected So Far by Controversial Union Rules, District Officials Say

  Despite -- or perhaps because of -- loud lamentations about bizarre union work rules that promised to displace secretaries at San Francisco schools, only one school site has so far been affected by the regulations, school-district officials say.​Earlier this month we told the story of Sandra Rios, the beloved secretary at Longfellow Elementary School in the Outer Mission. Rios, like her counterparts at other San Francisco schools, believed she was on the verge of becoming an indirect casualty

  December 18, 2009