Dispute in Providence

A union official there, Tim Schick, is upset that management has not yet allowed the newsroom to report in the Providence Journal that layoffs happened two weeks ago. The 31 employees cut there work their final shift Friday.

"There are a lot of questions about when they will be upfront with the public about what is going on," said Schick. "If it were any other business in the community, the Journal would be reporting it and seeking it out."

UPDATED FRIDAY: After Editor & Publisher placed calls to Journal officials, the newspaper assigned a layoffs story. It published Friday.

Howard G. Sutton, the Journal Co.’s chairman, publisher, president and chief executive officer, said it was the first time the newspaper laid off full-time newsroom employees. Along with 22 buyout takers, the Journal's cut numbered 53. That was was one away from the high end of the range Corporate set for it.

“Even with this reduction in our news-gathering and editing ranks, we still have almost 200 people working in our newsrooms, which is a sizeable commitment to provide our readers with news and information,” Sutton said in an interview at the company’s headquarters on Fountain Street in Providence.

UPDATED FRIDAY PART 2: The union posted a list of the laid-off employees, with names and titles, on its Web site.