Perry County employers, including weekly newspaper, shedding jobs, trims wages

PERRY COUNTY - Three local employers, Kimball International, Abbey Press and The Perry County News, are responding to the national recession by either cutting wages, eliminating jobs or cutting back on hours its employees work.

Kimball announced last week it was trimming pay for its executives and salaried employees. Abbey Press will cut 11 jobs and News employees are taking five days off without pay.

Salaried Kimball employees will see 3-percent salary cuts. Kimball Chief Executive Officer Jim Thyen will lose 10 percent of his annual base and other company officers will see their pay reduced 5 percent.

"We have previously avoided across-the-board pay reductions because our long-standing profit-sharing bonus program makes Kimball's compensation more self-adjusting than most other companies, and has already had the effect of reducing compensation, but prudent cash management in these economic times requires extraordinary action," Thyen said.

Kimball also announced it would cut its stock dividend by 11 cents to 5 cents per share on Class B shares and 4.5 cents for Class A shares.

The moves are expected to save the company $3 million per year.

Abbey Press Cuts Jobs

Abbey Press in St. Meinrad is cutting 11 full-time positions from its workforce. The staff reduction is part of the company's ongoing plan to address what it calls a "multi-year decline in performance."

Employees whose jobs are being discontinued will receive a severance package and outplacement training.

Gerald Wilhite, general manager of Abbey Press, said the two departments that will be hardest hit are trade marketing, which handles wholesale business to bookstores and gift shops, and printing, which he said has suffered an industry-wide decline.

"Store traffic has been light over the past several months," said Wilhite. "Our gift, card and bookstore customers have experienced significant reductions in their sales volumes. As a result, they're cutting back on new orders."

Abbey Press manufactures and markets inspirational products through Web site and catalogs mailed to consumers' homes.

Wilhite acknowledged the pain job cuts, especially in the midst of the recession, bring.

"These cost-cutting efforts have resulted in reduced volume for us and others in the printing industry. Parting ways with long-term and dedicated co-workers is a sad and unfortunate event, and the economic stress that our laid-off co-workers and customer partners are experiencing is painful," he said.

Wilhite said the restructuring will contribute to the company's stability and ensure its success in the future.

Abbey Press employs 219 people and is owned and operated by the Benedictine monks of Saint Meinrad Archabbey.

Newspaper Impacted

The economic slowdown affecting other employers has also impacted The Perry County News. Landmark Community Newspapers, the twice-weekly newspaper's parent company, announced earlier this year that full-time employees will take one unpaid day off work each month through June.

The company told employees the move will cut payroll expenses and help compensate for declines in advertising revenue.

Newspapers and other media companies around the nation have been hit hard by the economic downturn. Declines in housing and automotive advertising have hurt many media companies as fewer Americans purchase homes and new cars.

President's Day, Feb. 16, was the first unpaid day off and the newspaper will be closed Monday, March 16, and April 13, the day after Easter. Other unpaid days will be scheduled for May and June. The News will publish reminders of the days it will be closed, as well as early advertising deadlines.