LONG BEACH, Calif. — Just months after the Los Angeles Times laid off more than 100 people, more local news outlets seem to follow suit.

Monday, journalists and others picketed after layoffs were announced at the Long Beach Post and the Long Beach Business Journal.

What You Need To Know

  • Staff at the Long Beach Post and The Long Beach Business Journal are in the midst of unionizing

  • This month, layoffs were announced

  • A picket line formed Monday, including currently employed and recently laid off workers

  • There’s a push to save a few of the cut positions; some are even withholding labor to try and force a bargaining session

Staff at the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, which includes both the Post and the Business Journal, are trying to unionize. Members signed cards in support of joining the Media Guild of the West to establish the Long Beach Media Guild. They sent a letter to the board of directors on March 13 seeking voluntary recognition of the union. They filed a petition for a union election on March 18.

Then, late last week, nine employees were laid off, including five on the editorial side. This represents a significant portion of the total number of employees.

The allegation is that these cuts are illegal and are connected to the unionization effort.

However, CEO Melissa Evans and the Board of Directors of the Long Beach Journalism Initiative released a statement to the contrary:

“The Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal became nonprofit organizations just four months ago. We were formerly owned by a local corporate entity, but became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the parent corporation, the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, on Dec. 1, 2023. We made this move because we believe strongly that the work we do is a public service and must be held in public trust.

Everyone on staff, as well as our Board of Directors, knew that this move to a nonprofit carried with it considerable uncertainty and risk. We completely changed our business model, with greater reliance on donors and grants. We’ve made huge strides — Long Beach is a fantastic and generous city — but the burden of carrying so much salary was threatening our ability to pay our bills now and in the long term. Unfortunately, this is true for many news organizations in the region and nationally. 

Laying people off is the last thing we wanted to do, and we took every measure to avoid cutting jobs. 

Our financial circumstances were the only reason for these cuts. The employees who were impacted by these layoffs today are talented journalists and support team members, and they did not deserve to be out of a job. But our obligation to our donors, to foundations, and to our readers is to ensure that the Post and the work we do survives this critical transition.

We are very confident that we will preserve and grow journalism in Long Beach. This city deserves no less.”

The Long Beach Media Guild is demanding the opportunity to talk and negotiate with the Board in an effort to save some of the cut positions. Jason Ruiz is one of the reporters who still has a job at the Long Beach Post. He was part of the Picket line Monday and says he is withholding his labor until both sides can come to the table.