The owner of The Denver Post has asked employees at many of its California newspapers to take a week off, without pay, by March 1, according to memos posted at online journalism news sites.

David Rounds, the president and publisher of MediaNews' Bay Area News Group-East Bay, announced the policy to his staff in a memo Wednesday. The Bay Area News Group includes the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times, according to the Romenesko blog at Poynter.org, a journalism nonprofit.

The Los Angeles Newspaper Group newsrooms, including the Los Angeles Daily News, were told of the policy in a memo from Executive Editor Carolina Garcia, according to a memo posted on LAObserved.com, a news site.

The California Media Workers Guild said Jan. 21 that Media News negotiators proposed that it reduce the salaries of its members by 15 percent under the union's next contract.