Circulation station closure postponed

The impending closure of the Press-Telegram's sole remaining circulation station has been postponed until further notice, according to MediaNews Group SVP Jim Janiga.

The company notified the Guild on June 8 that due to a need for further operating expense cuts at the P-T, it planned to shutter the Signal Hill location by June 23 and perform the work out the Daily Breeze's circulation facility in Torrance. The nine Guild-represented workers at the P-T station were offered transfers to the Torrance facility, albeit at the loss of their Guild representation and coverage under the Guild-negotiated P-T contract. Transferees would have become "at-will" employees of the Daily Breeze and faced serious changes in their job status and compensation.

Janiga said Wednesday that the decision to postpone the closure came after the company learned that all nine of the P-T circulation workers declined to transfer to Torrance. This scenario would have left the P-T will no circulation staff following the closure of the Signal Hill facility.

"Current [P-T circulation] staff will not be released until some later date," said Janiga in a message to the Guild yesterday. "Hopefully, this delay will not be too great. As a result all employees currently working out of the Signal Hill office will remained employed and expected to continue working their assignments until otherwise notified."

The Signal Hill facility will remain open, according to Janiga, until sufficient staff can be found to perform the work out of Torrance.

Under the Guild-negotiated P-T contract ratified in January, the circulation staff--once let go by the company--will be entitled to 60-day pay in lieu of notice, enhanced severance, extended COBRA medical coverage and participation in the company's tuition reimbursement program.