St. Louis Post Journos Dispatched

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Thirteen proved an unlucky number for the Lee Enterprises-owned St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as four editors and nine newsroom staffers were pink-slipped last week, media Web site JimRomanesko.com reported.

Daily circulation at the Post-Dispatch, one of the region's largest dailies, declined from 213,472 to 191,631 last year. Lee purchased the paper from Pulitzer, Inc. seven years ago in a cash deal reportedly totaling $1.46 billion. According to Romanesko, the layoffs occurred in the same week as Lee CEO Mary Junck acquired 500,000 shares of Lee stock for zero dollars.

Economic conditions were blamed for the job reductions. Another 10 employees in the production and advertising departments, also lost their jobs last week, bringing the layoff total to 23.

St. Louis Post Dispatches 23 Staffers to Unemployment Line

Image via WikipediaTwenty-three employees, none from the editorial department, have been let go by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as ad revenues and circulation remain weak, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.

Marketing, production and information technology were targeted in the latest round of layoffs. The Post-Dispatch is owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises. Lee lost $1.5 million in the Second Quarter of 2011, compared to a $3 million profit during the same period in 2010, the Journal reported.

St. Louis News Guild Ok's Contract with 'Dispatch'

Image by Storm Crypt via Flickr

With three-quarters of its members casting ballots, the St. Louis Newspaper Guild ended year-long negotiations by voting 132-54 to ratify a five-and-a-half year contract with the St. Louis Post Dispatch that offers less than idyllic terms.

The contract freezes pension contributions and eradicates retiree medical benefits for existing employees, offers a 6 percent cut in wages and requires three unpaid one-week furloughs over the next two-and-a-half years. On a positive note, a provision in the contract calls for a six-month moritorium on staff layoffs and would restore wages by 2.5 percent in each of the pact's last three years provided company revenues increased by at least 2 percent annually during that period.

The daily, founded in 1878, which is currentrly owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, has a daily circulation of approximately 240,000.