Tribune Publishing To Furlough Workers Amid Coronavirus Shutdown

CHICAGO — The chief executive officer of the Chicago Tribune's parent company informed employees Tuesday the company would offer its non-union employees making between $40,000 and $65,000 the option of three weeks of unpaid leave or a severance package.

In a letter to staff, Tribune Publishing CEO Terry Jimenez said the broad furloughs would be taken in one-week increments over the next three months. Positions that have seen large slowdowns of work activity may be subject to longer or additional furloughs.

"Despite strong engagement with our journalism, the impact on advertising has been profound," Jiminez said. Workers who choose to take the mandatory unpaid time off will maintain their health benefits. Those who choose not to accept the furlough have until May 1 to apply for severance and leave the company, he said.

Pay cuts for any employees making more than $65,000-a-year were announced earlier this month and are set to take effect this week. The furlough also does not apply to unionized employees.

"We also are actively pursuing cost savings within our unionized workforce with measures that will affect both employees covered by existing collective bargaining agreements and employees who are not," the CEO said.

In addition to the Chicago Tribune, the company owns the Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, New York Daily News, Capital Gazette in Maryland, The Morning Call in Pennsylvania and the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in Virginia.

Other major media companies have implemented broad furloughs in response to a sudden loss of advertising revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the newspaper chain Gannett, the nation's largest, announced company-wide pay cuts and furloughs in response to the crisis. Hearst Corporation has been the exception, according to Poynter, with management telling newsroom staff there would be no furloughs or pay cuts for its journalists as they cover the pandemic, even offering a 1 percent bonus and a merit pool.

In November 2019, hedge fund Alden Global Capital became the largest shareholder in Tribune Publishing when it acquired a 25-percent share of the company from its former chairman, Michael Ferro, who resigned from the board in March 2018 following accusations of unwanted sexual advances against two women — collecting a $12.5 million consulting fee on his way out. Shortly after his departure, NPR reported the company, briefly known as Tronc, made more than $2.5 million in secret payments to avoid a lawsuit revealing an allegation Ferro made an anti-Semitic slur at a dinner.

Alden — notorious as a "destroyer of newspapers" or "hedge fund vampire"— now owns nearly third of Tribune Publishing stock. The New York-based firm owns nearby 100 newspapers around the country, according to website of its subsidiary, Digital First Media. Chicago Tribune Managing editor Peter Kendall departed in February, along with numerous journalists who accepted voluntary buyouts. The Tribune's publisher and editor-in-chief, Bruce Dold, is due to depart April 30 after 42 years at the paper.