The number of news and advertising employees who will be laid off by the Chronicle next month “will not be as high as expected,” the Guild said in a statement posted on its Website. No figures were given out, but management had previously said it wants to eliminate 150 Guild positions, and 120 employees (see list at left) have agreed to accept buyouts where they get their pension paid to them in one lump sum. The Guild statement said:

Applicants have three working days to reconsider. Because of the three-day rescission period, and a substantial number of late filers, the final number of buyout applications won’t be known until Friday evening. …

Given such a high number of volunteers, management said the number of involuntary layoffs will not be as high as expected. The Guild has been informed that involuntary layoffs will not occur April 1 and will likely happen sometime in mid-April. As for non-Guild totals, management has said that those discussions are already in process but gave no specific figures.