The Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal laid off two-thirds of their staff Friday, March 22, just days after employees signaled they were unionizing.
Nine of 14 employees who were campaigning to unionize as the Long Beach Media Guild were notified their jobs had been terminated by CEO Melissa Evans.
The news came as pro-union employees were on the second day of a two-day walk-out.
Evans said Friday in a statement that the business model shifted when the twin publications became nonprofits four months ago.
“Everyone on staff, as well as our board of directors, knew that this move to a nonprofit carried with it considerable uncertainty and risk,” she said.
Meeting salary obligations under the new model has threatened the organization’s ability to pay its bills now and in the long term, she continued.
“Laying people off is the last thing we wanted to do, and we took every measure to avoid cutting jobs,” she said. “But our obligation to our donors, to foundations and to our readers is to ensure that the Post and the work we do survives this critical transition.”
Jason Ruiz, a city hall and government reporter at both publications who did not lose his job, said the cuts “will make it impossible to provide any quality journalism going forward.”
Employees are working with the National Labor Relations Board on scheduling a date for a union election, but that hasn’t been set.
Ruiz said pro-union employees had been discussing options to avoid layoffs, including pay cuts, moving some employees to part-time status and using others on a contract basis.
