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WABC Reduces Staff
July 17, 2008

Even the news leaders are not exempt from the layoff bug. Around 10 staffers are being dismissed at WABC New York, reports TV Spy, primarly playback and tape people. 

A WABC spokesperson said the reductions are not layoffs, but buyouts for positions no longer required due to automation. Local 16 Vice President Jim Nolan, part of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET), says the 10 workers have until September 5 to accept or decline the buyout, and will be laid off September 12 if they don't accept. 

TV Spy also takes WPSD Paducah to task for refusing to be upfront with its news colleagues in other local media about reported layoffs at the station. 

Spy offers up a boilerplate response for all station managers forced to deal with layoffs these days. 

We're having a tough quarter, and we regret that we will have to make some cuts. We're at the point where we have no choice but to cut personnel. We don't want to impact our news coverage any further, but today we had to layoff 7 people...

Posted by Mike Malone on July 17, 2008 | Comments (4)