Chicago
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Jan. 9, 2009

An unknown number of advertising employees were laid off.
Source: Chicago Tribune; Paper Cuts tip

Sun-Times union says outsourcing of copy desk proposed

Originally posted: January 9, 2009

Chicago Sun-Times management has presented its newsroom union with a cost-cutting proposal to outsource the copy-editing of news stories and columns, eliminating around 25 positions, a Newspaper Guild representative said Friday.

“My initial reaction is that is not something we are going to go along with and if that forces them to lay people off, we would prefer they do so under the terms of the contract rather than eliminate an entire group of people,” said Bob Mazzoni, the Sun-Times’ Guild unit co-chairman. “They obviously have the option … [to] go ahead and outsource anyway and we would take it to arbitration.”

The newspaper on Friday also eliminated an unknown number of positions in its advertising department, sources said.

Where the newsroom positions were to be outsourced could not be immediately confirmed; Mazzoni said one management representative at Friday’s meeting mentioned India and another referred to Canada. The Sun-Times has been outsourcing its small-type sports scoreboard material to a Canadian firm for several years, he said.

A spokeswoman for parent Sun-Times Media Group did not respond to requests for comment.

The company, which last year cut $50 million in costs and this year has said it plans to eliminate another $45 million to $50 million to stem losses, earlier this week proposed a 7 percent cut in compensation for all union workers at the Sun-Times and its dozens of sister Chicago-area publications and Web sites.

Sun-Times Media this week also told the Newspaper Guild of its plans to stop publishing 12 of its Pioneer Press suburban weeklies, laying off as many as 15 newsroom workers.

The Sun-Times’ Guild membership has a meeting set for Monday to discuss the management proposals.