L.A. Times Plans to Cut 100 Jobs

The Los Angeles Times said Tuesday that it will eliminate nearly 100 positions in its single-copy and home-delivery distribution operations in its third and final phase of cost-reduction steps in 1998.

The Times said it will contract out the delivery of the newspaper to stores and racks in the following areas: Palmdale, Lancaster, Santa Barbara, Palm Desert, the San Bernardino Mountains, Temecula and Lake Elsinore. As a result, 10 full-time and 84 part-time distribution positions will be eliminated, The Times said.

The Times said it will also consolidate its home-delivery operation, reducing by one-third the number of independent agencies that deliver the paper to subscribers in the five-county area of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside. This will streamline the newspaper’s home-delivery system and lower distribution costs, the newspaper said. Because delivery agents are not Times employees, this change will not affect staffing levels at The Times, the company said.

“Through each of these changes, we expect to improve overall operating efficiency, reduce costs and maintain our high level of service to customers,” said Kathryn M. Downing, president and chief executive officer of The Times, a unit of Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co.

The first two phases of the paper’s cost reductions and reorganizations, announced on Nov. 3 and Dec. 15, will result in the elimination of about 750 positions. About 450 of those positions are part-time. About 380 of the 750 positions are in the consumer marketing division, where circulation sales efforts are being refocused and some services are being outsourced.