Gannett, Times Workers Will Take More Unpaid Time Off

NEW YORK (AP) -- Employees at Gannett's local newspapers, including the St. Cloud Times, will have to take a week off without pay during the first quarter.

For now the furloughs will only apply to non-union workers.

Gannett Co. says it's contacting union representatives to discuss furloughs for the rest.

The division affected, community publishing, includes most of Gannett's more than 80 daily newspapers, but not the flagship USA Today. That division has roughly 17,000 employees.

Bob Dickey, the division's president, said Tuesday that furloughs are necessary to save jobs. He says the division's revenue is still slipping from where it stood a year ago despite improving trends.

Gannett had several rounds of furloughs over the past two years.

The newspaper industry has yet to see the kind of post-recession rebound in advertising that other types of media have.