The New York Times announced earlier this month that it would aim to cut 100 newsroom jobs through a voluntary buyout program. If that number wasn’t met, executive editor Dean Baquet told staffers, the paper would resort to layoffs.
That apparently may not be necessary.
The New York Post’s Keith J. Kelly reported Tuesday night on what may be a “veritable stampede for the exits” at the Times.
Grant Glickson, the unit representative of the Newspaper Guild, told Kelly that the Times received “over 300 requests” for information about buyouts by the Oct. 17 deadline.
“A lot of people were just securing their rights and checking it out,” Glickson said.
Glickson doesn’t expect that many staffers to bolt but he said the 300-plus number is a lot higher than the voluntary buyout requests submitted in 2012, when the Times failed to meet its 100-person goal and was forced to lay off 15 staffers.
Editorial note: This post has been updated to clarify that the staffers have only requested information about the buyouts, but have not necessarily asked for the buyouts themselves.
