The parent company of the Honolulu Advertiser announced a 10 percent work-force reduction yesterday in light of a 32 percent drop in quarterly profit, while local employees have been considering buyouts and threatened layoffs since earlier this month.

The new round of job cuts for Virginia-based Gannett Co. Inc. will come in early December, due to the continuing dive in advertising revenue being felt throughout the media industry.

“;As all of you are painfully aware, the fiscal crisis is deepening and the economy is getting worse,”; Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division, said in a memo.

The impending cuts at the Advertiser “;are going to count toward their overall goal,”; said Tara Connell, vice president of corporate communications at Gannett. Each of Gannett's publications will make its own decisions about which departments will sustain the cuts, in addition to the elimination of 1,000 positions in August.

About 100 Gannett management jobs were cut last month.

Advertiser management was expected to find out late yesterday how many employees would be taking the buyout, which offered two weeks' pay for each year of service, up to 52 weeks.

The Advertiser and its community publications laid off 81 people in July and August and officials said this month that depending on how many employees accepted the buyout, more layoffs might be needed.

In this latest round, the Advertiser said it needed to attain $5 million to $10 million in cost savings. It offered what President and Publisher Lee Webber called a “;voluntary separation program”; because the “;environment in which the Honolulu Advertiser operates continues to worsen,”; as the Star-Bulletin reported on Oct. 20.

Webber did not respond to a Star-Bulletin inquiry yesterday.

Vice President and Editor Mark Platte declined to provide details.

“;These are personnel matters and, in the case of the buyouts, folks still have another week to change their minds even if they do accept,”; he said in an e-mail.

The Hawaii Newspaper Guild, which represents Advertiser and Star-Bulletin employees, did not have an update on how many employees had taken the buyout.

However, by the end of November the guild will have lost about 15 percent of its membership since 2000, said Wayne Cahill, guild administrative officer.

Union members at the Advertiser have been working under a contract that expired in June of last year and the economy is impeding progress toward a new contract.

Both sides plan another bargaining session next month, though no date has been confirmed.

“;They're still claiming to need something over $5 million in concessions,”; Cahill said. “;Of course we're going to want to know how much of that is going to be contributed by management,”; as it was when Star-Bulletin employees took a pay cut after 9/11, he said. “;Star-Bulletin management took the same pay cuts,”; which have since been restored.