Warner Bros. to reduce staff

Officials from more than a dozen divisions of Warner Bros. notified state and local officials last week that upcoming restructuring plans would involve cutting staff at the studio’s Burbank facility beginning earlier this month.

The notices did not provide exact numbers of employees being let go, but each, except for one, said the cuts are expected to remain below the threshold of 50 employees that triggers mandatory reporting under state law. That still means that nearly 700 employees across 14 divisions — including Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television — could have been notified on Nov. 4 that they would be laid off.

The same day, Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara announced global restructuring efforts to cut costs would result in staff reductions. Tsujihara did not provide a number, but the Los Angeles Times and other outlets have reported the studio plans to slash about 10% of its workforce, or around 1,000 employees worldwide.

“There is no easy way to deliver today’s message,” said Tsujihara in a memo to staff. “As you know, we at Warner Bros. have committed to reducing costs across the company in order to meet our long-term financial targets, and that includes cutting staff. These changes are challenging, but we believe they will allow us to reallocate resources and position the company for growth and stability in the years ahead.”

Some of the cuts will come through not filling open positions, company officials said. In the letters to state and local officials, Warner Bros. officials said they had “exhausted other means available” to not reduce the workforce such as “reduction in travel and entertainment expenses.”

The company began notifying affected employees on Nov. 4. Impacted employees will continue to receive base pay and benefits, including vacation, during the 60-day period after notification, company officials said in the letters, and some employees may be eligible for additional benefits under the company’s separation policy.

The cuts come weeks after another Burbank-based studio, Walt Disney Pictures, notified state and local officials of a round of workforce reductions that will trim more than 60 workers at its Burbank location beginning just days before Christmas.

Disney has slated terminations for 52 employees across 18 job titles on Dec. 19. Another nine employees will be cut over the course of several months ending in June 2015.

Patt A. Gibbs, international representative and trustee for the Office and Professional Employees International Union local 174 in Burbank, which represents administrative support workers at the studios, said in a phone interview that she sees the Warner Bros. and Disney layoffs as part of a trend that’s “like a virus across the industry.”

“We’re seeing this as an across-the-board shrinking of the entertainment business in California,” Gibbs said.