With 11 Star Tribune colleagues opting for buyouts last week and 12-20 layoffs set to come down as soon as Monday, the newsroom Newspaper Guild okayed a Tuesday byline strike, according to a union memo.

Withholding bylines has a long tradition in unionized newsrooms; the contractually guaranteed right is a visible way to protest management practices.

However, byline strikes are also subtle. In a nod to the new-media era, the memo urges members "to tell your family, friends and sources what's happening, and to employ your social media — Facebook, Twitter, etc. — to explain it more broadly."

In this case, the spur is a plan to reduce copy desk staff and headcount in the photo department, web operation and among news assistants. The moves follow a November job-slashing edict from the Strib's new owners.

The Guild memo eschews the fire and brimstone, stating the byline strike "is meant more as a tribute than a protest" to recognize "departing colleagues, most of whom work in jobs in which they did not get the kind of recognition bylines provide."

That said, memo notes the strike "also is an expression of how sad and dismayed we are that our friends and colleagues are departing and that such major holes will be left in our newsroom and in the journalistic processes that contribute to the quality of our newspaper and website."

As a management memo earlier this month stated, the Strib will "reorganize work flow" and which involves getting rid of a third or more of the workers dedicated to copy editing. "More stories will get fewer reads," bosses acknowledged.

Copy editors do far more than proofreading. As former Strib editor Tim McGuire, now an Arizona State journalism professor, wrote recently in his blog:

Copy editing corrects context errors, provides expertise on local points of history and location and supplies subject matter expertise that often saves a piece of copy. Copy editors also supply a little thing called judgment. Every writer pushes a point too far, uses language that is ill-advised or makes assertions that can’t be supported. A copy editor's job is to catch those.

Many of the errors caught are small, but some prevent libel suits. Current and ex-employees I've spoke to openly fret how things will go down when big news breaks on deadline.

The reorganization also allowed top editors to reach fairly high up the seniority list, something the Guild could not prevent. One contract classification (A-scale copy editing) will be all but wiped out; that forced more than a few experienced folks into "volunteering" for buyouts last week, though five selected copy editors will be promoted to new positions.

There's also some grumbling that experienced workers are being whacked just as the Strib spent $400,000 — plus options and other incentives — on a new publisher, and as new owners tout the strength of their bankruptcy-scrubbed balance sheet.

For its part, management insists multiple sets of eyes will remain on stories, especially high-profile pieces, and experienced copy editors remain throughout the operation in untouched classifications or in the new positions. Though the management memo declared, "Reporters cannot turn in stories without running a basic spell check," that's certainly not the last line of defense, even if there are fewer lines of defense.

Also, given ownership's November edict to cut 30 positions, editors have stood firm on preserving reporting staff and beat coverage.

Meanwhile, the Guild memo stresses "the action is voluntary and no one should feel forced to participate." Still, given the p.r. campaign urged in the communique, decliners run the risk of appearing noticeably callous to the exit of their largely forced-out co-workers.

The final list of the departed won't be known until the layoffs are complete. When the time is appropriate, I'll try to provide you with a list of the folks who helped bring you your daily news all these years, even if you never saw their bylines.

Here's the memo:

As you know, Guild members voted Friday to support a general byline strike in Tuesday's Star Tribune as a tribute to our 29 departing colleagues, most of whom work in jobs in which they did not get the kind of recognition bylines provide.

Although this is a group action, it is also voluntary; no one should feel forced to participate. News, features, business and sports reporters (and columnists if they so choose), photographers and graphic artists are all invited to join in, as are online folks, videographers and bloggers if they can see practical ways to do so.

Here's what to do: If you have a story slated for Tuesday's paper, remove your byline and tagline and put a notes-mode note atop the story that says: "I respectfully request that this story have no byline/tagline, as is my right under Article XXVI (1) in the Guild contract."

Then make sure your editor/ace/team leader knows you're participating. We want to make sure this is all understood BEFORE your story gets into the copy editing/design process so as to keep things as smooth as possible for our night colleagues. (Copy editors can easily see the DTI notes, but designers can't, so we've told them that if a story appears on their page with no byline, they can assume it's part of this action.)

We also encourage you to tell your family, friends and sources what's happening, and to employ your social media -- Facebook, Twitter, etc. -- to explain it more broadly.

Although this action is meant more as a tribute than a protest, it also is an expression of how sad and dismayed we are that our friends and colleagues are departing and that such major holes will be left in our newsroom and in the journalistic processes that contribute to the quality of our newspaper and website.

And for those of you who are reading this on the day you've been informed that you're being laid off, please accept this respectful salute -- one that exercises a right we all have through our union contract -- and know that it's just one way in which we intend to honor your service.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact a Guild officer.

Thank you,

Your Guild leaders