Chronicle Employees Still Waiting for Layoff Hammer to Fall

Last week, a number of newsroom employees at the San Francisco Chronicle told us they were bracing for one last throe of layoffs on Friday. And yet, Friday came and went with no one walking out the door at Fifth and Mission with his or her head tucked beneath their arm.

News of how many workers will be let go -- and when they'll get the axe -- is not forthcoming. One Chron writer agreed that the staff feel like rats in the cage of a python who has decided he isn't hungry -- right now.

Media Workers Guild representative Carl Hall -- himself a former longtime Chron science writer who walked the plank during the March buyout offer -- said he believed the paper's management was "re-evaluating what they need to do and trying to take care not to damage any further the newsroom in particular."


The Hearst Corporation has long announced the desire to shed 150 Media Guild workers; Hall put the number who have already left at "around 112" with a few more buyouts pending. Hall hoped it would end there. "If they adhere to an arbitrary goal of hitting a certain number without taking into account any special factors, it doesn't do them any good."

We'll see. Pythons always get hungry again sooner or later.