According to a memo sent out to guild members last night, The New York Times will keep staffers it plans to lay off next week — as many as 26 of them — on the payroll until December 23, “several days longer than planned.”

This extension is related to a dispute between the union and Times management over calculating seniority and “several related issues,” the union said in the memo yesterday, which was obtained by FishbowlNY. The dispute went before an arbitrator last night, and he is expected to rule on the matter Monday. The Times will then provide the guild a list of those targeted for layoffs before dropping the axe. Apparently, seniority will be playing a factor in who the paper decides to let go, so the guild wants to make sure it is correctly calculated before final decisions are made.

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