UPDATE: The layoffs of more than 20% of the Los Angeles Times newsroom elicited sharp criticism from the guild, saying that it was handled in a “brutal and inhumane way.”
“The Times chose long planned mass layoffs via a webinar in which staff members weren’t allowed so much as a question,” the guild said in a statement.
The guild claimed that management wanted them to agree “extreme layoff terms that it was unwilling to share on the record — essentially asking journalists to sign a deal without telling them what was in that deal.” The union also contended that the Times tried to gut the seniority process and “pit young journalists of color against more senior employees.”
“The staffing cut is the fruit of years of middling strategy, the absence of a publisher and no clear direction,” the guild said. The union credited the walkout on Friday with helping to save “scores of newsroom jobs,” but the newsroom now looks to be less than 400 people.