Tribune Publishing and the Chicago Tribune Guild agreed Wednesday to a three-week furlough for all unionized newsroom employees making $40,000 or more as a cost-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The furloughs will be taken in one-week increments from May through July, the Chicago-based newspaper chain said. Employees will continue to receive health benefits but no salary during the weeks they are on furlough.
They also will be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits as well as the extra $600 per week unemployment supplement provided for under federal law through July 25.
Newsroom employees may resign from the company and receive severance instead of the furlough, the company said.
Last month, Tribune Publishing implemented permanent pay cuts of up to 10% for nonunion employees making $67,000 per year or more as well as three-week furloughs for nonunion employees making between $40,000 and $67,000. Top company executives took pay cuts, with CEO Terry Jimenez forgoing two weeks of salary in addition to a 10% reduction in his annual base pay of $575,000.
The median pay last year for Tribune Publishing employees across the country was $47,249, according to an April filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tribune Publishing had about 4,100 full-time employees at the end of 2019.
In addition to the Chicago Tribune, the company owns the Baltimore Sun; Hartford Courant; Orlando Sentinel; South Florida Sun Sentinel; New York Daily News; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.
A majority of the newsrooms are unionized, and all other bargaining units had already reached agreement with the company on pay cuts and furloughs. The Chicago Tribune Guild ratified the furlough agreement by an overwhelming margin Wednesday.
Media companies have been especially hard-hit by the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, and many have announced pay cuts and furloughs. Some have suspended print publication.
Last week, Tribune Publishing’s board voted to suspend its quarterly 25-cent cash dividend to “preserve liquidity.” The dividend, which the company began in November, pays shareholders about $9 million a quarter.
Tribune Publishing is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings May 22.
![The law firm retained by several families of children at the center of a probe into an Arlington Heights school nurse’s”misuse” of the kids’ medications is calling for the principal to be removed, pending the outcome of the investigation. The nurse is already on leave, according to Arlington Heights School District 25 officials. The health professional is not identified because they are not, to date, charged with a crime. “We are calling for Westgate Elementary School Principal Ann Buch to be placed on administrative leave until all of the facts come out,” attorneys from the Chicago-based personal injury law firm […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2022/07/02/ZX4PDTQIHJBE7KWML7VWKY4TP4.jpg?w=535 "The law firm retained by several families of children at the center of a probe into an Arlington Heights school nurse’s”misuse” of the kids’ medications is calling for the principal to be removed, pending the outcome of the investigation. The nurse is already on leave, according to Arlington Heights School District 25 officials. The health professional is not identified because they are not, to date, charged with a crime. “We are calling for Westgate Elementary School Principal Ann Buch to be placed on administrative leave until all of the facts come out,” attorneys from the Chicago-based personal injury law firm […]")
