Weekly's Toronto Press Bureau chief laid off due to financial considerations (10/10/99)

Weekly's Toronto Press Bureau chief laid off due to financial considerations

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Due to financial considerations, Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj, staff editor at The Ukrainian Weekly's Toronto Press Bureau, has been laid off by the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Association effective October 1.

In making the decision, UNA executives cited the findings of an actuarial examination conducted by Arthur Andersen LLP. Those findings, released in July, stated in part:

"According to UNA's 1998 Annual Statement, many of its lines of business have produced positive statutory underwriting profits in the past several years. UNA's allocation of insurance operating expenses affects profitability at the line of business level. UNA as an entity is unprofitable due mainly to the large amounts of fraternal expenses (approximately $1.6 million in 1998) that offset underwriting profits. These expenses appear attributable to membership benefits (such as periodic newspapers, use of the UNA-owned resort, and various social activities) and not to insurance products."

Though he is no longer a full-time staff member of The Ukrainian Weekly, Mr. Wynnyckyj has agreed to continue working with The Weekly on a part-time basis through the end of the year. After that he will submit articles and columns to The Weekly on a free-lance basis.

Mr. Wynnyckyj had been assigned to the Toronto Press Bureau since May 1995 in accordance with a resolution passed by the UNA's 33rd Convention in May 1994 that called for the bureau's establishment.

The bureau was originally located in a corner of the UNA's insurance sales office in Etobicoke, Ontario. Beginning in May 1998, when the UNA was ready to move on closing down that sales office, Mr. Wynnyckyj continued as The Weekly's one-man Toronto Press Bureau by working out of his home office.

Prior to his assignment to Toronto, Mr. Wynnyckyj was based in Jersey City, N.J., at the editorial offices of The Ukrainian Weekly located in the UNA's headquarters building. He joined the staff of the newspaper on June 29, 1992, and was formally named a staff writer/editor on October 1 of that year.

Mr. Wynnyckyj brought a strong background as a translator and editor, as well as studies of literature and international politics, to his position at The Weekly. He also translated his love of sports into a new column at the newspaper. "Sportsline," which had been appearing in The Weekly periodically since 1993 (as the work of various staffers), became Mr. Wynnyckyj's column in 1997.

Mr. Wynnyckyj's fellow staffers at The Ukrainian Weekly in Parsippany, N.J., have not formally said their good-byes as he will continue to be a contributor to the paper. Nonetheless, the editorial and productions staffs of The Weekly feel a great loss over the layoff of their colleague.

| Home Page |