The Jersey Journal’s newspaper guild has come up with a list of names of reporters, photographers, and editors who will take a buyout to avoid a shutdown of the entire operation, a union official said last week.
Two weeks ago, the owners of Jersey City’s only daily newspaper met with the publication’s three unions and told them that unless half of the unionized staff was let go, the paper will close at the end of the month. Since then, the unions have been working on buyout agreements.
The Local 42 Hudson County Newspaper Guild, which represents the 35 reporters, editors, and photographers at the paper, has come up with a list of 17 people who will take a buyout. The owners, the Newhouse publishing family, had previously had their own handpicked list, said Guild President Ron Leir last week.
The union has not yet voted on an agreement, however. Leir said they have not set a date.
Those leaving tentatively include columnists Sally Deering and John Petrick, as well as Editorial Page Editor Bob Larkins, Leir confirmed. Columnists Ron Leir, Peter Weiss, and Earl Morgan and writers Christina Joseph and Jason Fink are among those tentatively staying.
Departing staffers from the Guild will get a $10-per-week raise retroactive to June of 2000. They also will get two weeks severance pay for every year of service, as well as nine months of individual health coverage. The limit of severance is 48 weeks.
The newspaper’s other two unions are still negotiating. Pat Hoffman of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 153 said that her union was, at one point, close to an agreement with the company, but that they differed on health benefits. Hoffman said that they want to get what the Guild members are getting. That union has 42 members, and 19 would be laid off.
A representative of the drivers’ union did not return a phone message.
Leir said that the mood was dark at the newspaper, which has done extensive coverage of the post-Sept. 11 investigation locally and of a federal investigation into political corruption. Last year, they won a statewide award for a series of articles on dangerous conditions on Route 7.
Jersey City is the second largest city in the state.
“I think Sally Deering had a quote [in the New York Times], ‘It’s like a dead elephant sitting in the city room,’ ” Leir said. “You can’t really budge it.”
Leir noted that the situation at the Journal had received coverage from many newspapers, but that the Journal itself had not published articles about it. He said that he didn’t know if there was a gag order on the editors.
City editor Augie Torres, who assigns city stories, declined to comment when asked about such a policy last week.
Officials have said that declining circulation has forced the paper to lose money over many years. The New York Post estimated that the paper loses $4 million to $5 million per year.
Leir said that he has been told that if agreements are reached with the unions, all of the paper’s editions and weekly supplements will continue to publish, but the space for news will be smaller.
Sally Deering, the long-time humor columnist at the Journal who got her start at the Hoboken Reporter writing the “Ms. Blabby” column, volunteered to go. She said last week that the writers at the paper are treated as though they are “dispensable.”
Deering, who has had the column for 12 years and was syndicated by Newhouse, said she will not write a goodbye column because she believes management would not allow it to appear. She said that she loves the fans of the column and will try to take it elsewhere.
“Besides, I don’t say goodbye,” Deering said. “I only say so long. I’ll go somewhere else and my readers will follow. And if they want to find me, they can go to sallydeer@aol.com.”