Local weekly announces layoffs, wage cuts

A weakening economy and falling advertising revenue is forcing Boston's largest weekly paper to cut costs, including laying off about 2 percent of its staff, cutting the wages of all employees, and suspending the company's 401k match.

Six employees, including an editor and a critic, were laid off yesterday by Phoenix Media/Communications Group, which owns The Boston Phoenix and other alternative weeklies and websites. Company officials also said that all 267 of its employees will receive wage cuts of between 2 and 10 percent, with some top executives seeing their pay reduced by as much as 50 percent. The company would not say how many executives would face the deeper cuts.

"The Phoenix has been able to skate in front of industry trends for a couple of years now,'' said Peter Kadzis, the Phoenix's executive editor who did not want to elaborate on how much the privately-held company would save by the salary cuts. "But a bad economy and crushing downturn had made it impossible for us to dodge reality any longer."

Employees who were laid off will receive a severance package, depending on their years of service. The company, which has weekly distribution of 270,000, may also trim its page count to save money.
(By Johnny Diaz, Globe staff)