• by Ray Schultz , March 27, 2024

The Long Beach (California) Post, a nonprofit newsroom, is facing a backlash following the layoff of nine employees on its news staff. 

The Long Beach Media Guild, which was formed earlier this month and seeks recognition by the company, reported that the staff was reduced from 17 to eight, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The union claims that the layoffs followed a decision to unionize and some staff members saw them as retaliation.

However, CEO Melissa Evans said in a memo that she and the board “reached the conclusion that immediate layoffs were the only feasible option to keep the Post solvent.”

Evans added, “I’m aware of both social media posts and an online petition alleging staff layoffs were carried out in retaliation against news staff who sought to unionize. This is false. In reality, staff were made aware that layoffs were inevitable before they moved to unionize.”

Specifically, “As of Friday, our full-time staff is now roughly 50% smaller, consisting of six exceptionally talented journalists and two tenacious business-side employees,” Evans continued.

Explaining the corporate history, Evans wrote: “Four months ago, the Post separated from our for-profit ownership, quickly became a nonprofit and retained nearly all of our previous staff based on the promise of several large donations, some of which did not materialize,” Evans said.