The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia
Interstate General Media says it will “liquidate or sell” assets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com next week “if it does not reach tentative agreements with all of its unions, including the Newspaper Guild,” the Guild’s Dan Gross and Bill Ross write in a blog post.
Federal law requires companies with more than 100 employees to give 60 calendar days’ notice before undertaking mass layoffs; a check of Pennsylvania’s WARN database shows no such notices from IGM in November or December.
“We will not be held out as scapegoats, to be blamed for not bargaining a new agreement while we have [a contract] standing,” Gross and Ross write. The Guild’s current contract runs through October.
In an email to Poynter, IGM spokesperson Mark Block said the company has no comment on the Guild’s statement.
Previously: Philadelphia newspapers lose $16 million, seek $28 million in cuts | New owners tell Poynter: “We’re not cutters, we’re people who want to grow.”
