Budget Cuts at ASTA Force Layoffs

ASTA laid off employees last week as it prepared to submit its annual budget to its board in November.

Bill Maloney, ASTA staff executive vice president and COO, declined to say how many employees were let go, other than to say, “It was less than ten, more than two.”

The layoffs, the first in five years, come 10 months after ASTA replaced its general membership model with a new, two-tier model under which premium members pay annual dues of $2,500 while core members pay $250.

But Maloney said the layoffs were not an indication that the new model wasn’t working.

“If you have people supporting the old ASTA as it was, and ASTA is not supporting old activities anymore, you migrate them to the new needs if their skills are transferable,” Maloney said. “If they are not transferable, unfortunately you have to make some adjustments.”

Maloney said ASTA had signed up 138 agencies in the premium category and planned to have as many as 150 by year’s end and up to 600 long-term. Maloney said the core memberships “are doing fine. One of the areas where we have exceeded our goals this year is the sale of new members.”