Layoffs and Downsizing

Public School Layoff Notices Sharply Lower Than In Recent Years

Today, 70 teachers and 35 other public school employees will receive layoff notifications. If this year is anything like recent ones, though, almost all those employees will have their jobs back by the time school is back in session. The layoffs have become something of an annual rite of summer v ... More >>

San Francisco Court Workers Explain Today's Strike

Court workers who walked off the job this morning are gathered in front of the San Francisco Superior Court House, where they plan to picket throughout the day. SF Weekly correspondent Jeff Sandstoe caught up with some of the nearly 200 demonstrators, who are being represented by the Service Employe ... More >>

KPIX-TV Reporters Weren't Fired for Being Middle-Aged, Court Rules

San Francisco KPIX-TV did not discriminate against two veteran news reporters when it terminated them nearly four years ago, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled today. The three-person panel decided that William Schechner and John Lobertini didn't to prove that they were targeted during company lay-offs ... More >>

The Bay Citizen Newsroom "Unsettled" by Merger

With the good news, there's always some bad news​If all goes well and the paperwork is signed, The Bay Citizen newsroom will be handed over to the Center of Investigative Reporting within 30 days as part of an overall merger to bolster the Bay Area's in-depth news coverage.   While a merger i ... More >>

SF Examiner Parts Ways with Editor Deirdre Hussey

​ Examiner Editor in Chief Deirdre Hussey has left the newspaper after more than 10 years. Initial reports say that Hussey resigned from the paper amid a change in ownership, however, the new owners say that her departure was a "mutual decision." Todd Vogt, president and publisher of the Examiner, ... More >>

Examiner Newsroom Hit with Layoffs

This will be a very unmerry Christmas for Examiner staff​As expected, the San Francisco Examiner's new owners trimmed its newsroom yesterday afternoon, laying off half the copy desk as well as other editorial staff. We called Todd Vogt, publisher and president of the Ex, who told us layoff notices ... More >>

Letter to S.F. Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein Says Clerks 'Betrayed' by Management

Just cuts?​An interesting subplot is emerging in the story of the severe budget cuts forcing the layoffs of San Francisco Superior Court employees and closure of civil courtrooms. An open letter to Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein has surfaced that accuses court administrators of "gutting" the ... More >>

Criminal Cases Would Be Less Affected by S.F. Court Layoffs

​California's oft-discussed governmental dysfunction is starting to take its toll. Public access to our state's natural resources is already on the chopping block; on Friday, more ominous news arrived about public access to justice. In light of the budget approved last week by the state Legislatur ... More >>

Bay Area Newspapers: How Much Longer Until They Are Extinct?

It's worse than you think.​So you think the Bay Area's newspapers are bad now - they are only going to get worse. A new survey shows that local newspapers will continue to strip away what little staff and resources they have left. Newspapers will get leaner, despite the fact that they have already ... More >>

Will Mayor Ed Lee Cave to Labor Over 'Bumping' Rights?

One bump sometimes leads to another​On Monday afternoon, labor organizers planned to pack a City Hall hearing room to protest Mayor Ed Lee's plans to eliminate the controversial practice of "bumping," which allows city workers who are laid off in one city department to displace lower-seniority wor ... More >>

What the City's Furloughs Mean for Health Care: Don't Get Sick

As in, 'Dr. No, He's Not In; He's Furloughed.'​Mayor Gavin Newsom's pending deal with unions to give workers 12 yearly unpaid days off could mean reduced staffing for everything from guarding swimming pools to issuing marriage certificates. But the effect might be most obvious at city-run clinics, ... More >>

Muni May Lay Off 170 Operators on Friday

Jim Herd​Muni spokesman Judson True has confirmed a rumor disseminated by the Muni Drivers' union: 170 operators -- and 230 Muni employees -- will be facing layoffs after Friday's Municipal Transportation Agency Board meeting. "At the Friday meeting, service reductions will be voted on. If the boa ... More >>

Getting Real About Prison Education Cuts

School's out -- forever? ​California has the highest inmate recidivism rate in the country: 70 percent. Now, as a result of a $250 million budget cut in prison education programs, the state is gearing up to liquidate programs, slash in-class hours, fire more than 800 of the state's 1,200 prison te ... More >>

Rec and Park Workers Anticipating Pink Slip Announcement at Meeting Today

Will the Empire at least provide him with COBRA?​Last week we wrote about angst rippling through the city's Recreation and Park Department over imminent layoffs. This week, scores of recreation directors and assistant rec supervisors -- the two classes of employees even the union confirms are faci ... More >>

Angst Over Imminent Layoffs Rippling Through Rec and Park Department

They were not the droids he was looking for...​Fear and loathing is emanating from the city's Recreation and Park Department, as a high-stakes version of the telephone game has longtime employees worried their jobs will be liquidated in pending mass layoffs. "The walls have ears," said one veteran ... More >>

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, ... More >>

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 ey ... More >>

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 circulati ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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. ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 Chro ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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

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 agreem ... More >>

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 official ... More >>

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 num ... More >>

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 f ... More >>

Gavin Newsom is no civil service reformer

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 t ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 ti ... More >>

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 s ... More >>

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 St ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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 ... More >>

East Bay Newspaper Managers Continue to Cut Jobs

Newspaper Union Accuses Company Of Retaliation

Newspaper Management Strikes Back

Rhapsody Lays Off 24 Today, 12 Two Weeks Ago?

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