Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

NYT staffers clamor to exit amid buyout offer

It looks as though there may be a veritable stampede for the exits prompted by the New York Times buyout offer.

Publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. was hoping to entice 100 newsroom staffers to accept buyouts — or face the prospect of involuntary layoffs.

So far, more than three times that target number have put in a request to review their potential severance packages. Workers had to submit the request for review by Oct. 17.

“There were over 300 requests,” said Grant Glickson, the unit representative of the Newspaper Guild. The Guild members now have until Dec. 1 to make a final decision.

“A lot of people were just securing their rights and checking it out,” said Glickson, who does not expect all 300-plus to opt to leave.

Still, he said the numbers this time far exceed the requests submitted in the last round of voluntary buyouts offered in 2012. That buyout fell short of the 100-person target and resulted in about 15 layoffs.

The buyout offer this time is heavily weighted toward enticing longtime employees to leave. All Guild-covered employees are potentially eligible for three weeks pay for each year worked.

Guild-covered employees with 20 or more years will get an added sweetener in the form of a one-time bonus of 35 percent of their annual pay added to the package.

Sulzberger has said it is “painful” that the Times has to make the newsroom cuts.

The problem is that print ad revenue continues to fall and has not been offset by a rise in digital revenue. “He’s trying to be as generous as he can be,” Glickson said about Sulzberger.

If Sulzberger still has to resort to layoffs, the downsizing would take place at an inopportune time — the week before Christmas. And if it comes to that, those employees won’t be eligible for the 35 percent bonus.

A Times spokeswoman declined to comment as the process unfolds.