In case you wondered how the Chronicle manages to be relevant with only about 135 editorial employees on the payroll these days, Pacific Media Workers Guild executive officer Carl T. Hall, who took a buyout from the paper in 2009, explains it to Shawn Gaynor at SF Public Press:
Partly because of concessions agreements we have made with these publishers to allow them to use freelance nonstaff content to an extent never anticipated in the past, there is a long list of Chronicle editorial staff that took buyouts or quit or something, who continue to show up in the paper. That is one of the reasons that the Chronicle can still put out a pretty good product with only 135 or so editorial employees.
Still, he eschews the term “skeleton crew” to describe the staffing level:
I wouldn’t accept that characterization. In fact, I object to that when people do that. It’s hardly a skeleton staff. And they are working like crazy. The core staff, that is, the people drawing a paycheck and getting a W2 — an employee — those people are fewer now. That is for sure. But it is still a productive and large staff compared to anyone else.
