LAT pressrooms to lose quarter of staff

The pressmen's union at the L.A. Times has been told it looks as if 63 of the 244 workers at the printing plants downtown and in Costa Mesa will be laid off. This is the next step in the process that began with this letter and is tied to the announced closure of the California section. Layoffs in the newsroom are expected to involve about 70 more journalists and support staff; details have yet to be circulated, but in bankruptcy court yesterday Tribune got the approval to offer severance plans that are scaled back substantially from last year's.