YH-R trims work force

Declining advertising revenue led to layoffs this week at the Yakima Herald-Republic, even as the company announced a deal to bolster revenue by printing the Daily Record of Ellensburg.

From four to six employees have been or will be laid off from the 38,077-circulation Herald-Republic, depending on whether one or two of them can be transferred within the company, publisher Michael Shepard said Thursday. He would not say which departments of the paper are losing employees. Only one, a copy editor, is from the paper's newsroom.

"These are the kind of changes you have to make in difficult economic times," he said. "And you always regret the impact that it has on individuals."

The paper's cost-cutting efforts, which earlier this month included doing away with the Unleashed teen program and section, were made necessary by broad economic pressures, Shepard said. The newspaper industry's well-documented hardships nationwide were less of a factor, he said.

"You've got major advertisers who are cutting back their advertising in every medium," Shepard said.

He emphasized that the paper, which is owned by The Seattle Times Co., remains profitable and that, at more than 180 full- and part-time employees, the staffing level has not dipped significantly. Last year the Herald-Republic laid off five staffers, closed its Sunnyside bureau and discontinued a zoned weekly edition for the Lower Valley.

There could have been more layoffs this year, but two unions representing company employees made contract concessions.

"We did listen to the concerns of the company," said Frank Purdy, a Herald-Republic copy editor and shop steward for the Yakima unit of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild. "And I think the company listened to what we had to say. And between the two, that helped limit the number of people who lost their jobs."

The layoff announcement came an hour and a half after the company announced its contract to print the 5,800-circulation Daily Record. That paper is also working to cut costs and will lay off three press workers, two mailroom employees and one front desk clerk.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.