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St. Pete Times May Have Layoffs

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2008

TAMPA - The St. Petersburg Times is offering early retirement incentives to staff members and may have to lay off employees later in the year, the newspaper said Wednesday.

Employees older than 50 with five years of service will be offered enhanced pension benefits if they retire by Aug. 31. The newspaper also froze wages for one year for all of its employees, which number less than 1,300, down from 1,500 two years ago.

Paul Tash, the paper's editor, chief executive officer and chairman, said in a memo to employees that depending on the response to the retirement incentives, "we may still need further reductions in our payroll costs, and that could include lay-offs."

The news comes after last month's announcement by Florida Communications Group, which oversees operations of The Tampa Tribune and other Media General properties in Florida, that it was offering voluntary buyouts to some of its staff. FCG has said additional staff reductions may come in the form of layoffs this year.

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