SAN FRANCISCO—ap Inc. said Wednesday that all nonunion employees at its California newspapers will be required to take one week of unpaid leave to help cut costs amid declining advertising revenue.
The work furloughs will affect about 3,300 employees at more than 50 daily and weekly newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune and Los Angeles Daily News, said Charlie Kamen, vice president of human resources for the Denver-based company.
All nonunion employees, including managers and executives, will be required to schedule one week of unpaid leave between Feb. 1 and March 31, he said.
MediaNews may also ask its 1,100 union employees in California to take unpaid leave, and the company is considering mandatory furloughs for employees at newspapers it owns outside of the state, Kamen said.
“We’ve got challenging times,” Kamen said. “The entire industry is faced with a lot of challenges.”
Other newspaper publishers have also announced unpaid furloughs and other cost-cutting measures to combat a severe advertising downturn caused by the economic recession and migration of readers to the Internet.
Gannett Co., the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, earlier this month imposed one-week unpaid furloughs for most of its U.S. employees and declared a one-year freeze on wages.
Last month, the Seattle Times asked 500 managers and nonunion workers to take a week off without pay by February.
