Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday | Jan. 18 | Your News & Comments
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74 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Hola!
ReplyDeleteHola to you too, Jim! Another year and we are still here! Hate the company, love my job. That's all I can ask for! Keep up the GREAT work!
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else done the math on this? Stick with me, it may get a little boring. Using round numbers, I see 30,000 Gannett employees giving up $1000 each this quarter, for a total corporate savings of $30,000,000.
I also see a stockholder dividend payout in the same quarter of $90,000,000. (228 million shares x 40 cents per share = $90,000,000.) Is there any question where our "donated" money is going?
The year end conference call is scheduled for 10:00 am on Friday, 1/30/09. If it is not announced at that time that the dividend is being reduced to 1 cent per share per quarter, I just can not see myself clear to tolerate any further concessions on my part.
Hey 11:12p why don't you do your job somewhere else if you hate the company and its employees so much? Is it because you can't find another job? Be grateful for what you have. I have been laid off for over 5 months now and if you are like me, ivy league education, 25 years dedicated to this industry, you are not going to find a better place than Gannett.
ReplyDeleteI wish that the company would hire me back into your job and throw you out. I would not only do your job better than you, but I would do it happily and loyally.
Corporate Robot Bob Dickey has now been programmed to shut down newspapers instead of doing the hard work and actually "transforming" their business.
ReplyDeleteGood job Robot Dickey. You are a good little corporate robot.
From Furlough Announcement POSTS:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
As a soon to be laid of (non-exempt classified as exempt) worker bee;
I'm heading South to hunt for 3-to-10 acres of foreclosured rural land with a beat up house to fix; so I can afford to be poor (un/-underemployed) for the next few years of this Depression. The land is for the garden. Also, meeting with my -former state Assemblyman- laywer to go over the my unpaid overtime and how we are going to convince Gannett that it is in their best interest to "quietly" pay me for the Unpaid Worktime I've donated for fear of losing my job over the last decade.
FLSA limits notwithstanding It will be cheaper for them to pay me an avoid an unecessarilty -althought personal statisfying- expensive and publicly dissemmenated Destructive Conflict.
I'm going to need money to buy the seeds & chickens to stock my estate.
All the Best
Jim - the reason your Google ad revenue is tanking is that they keep bringing up "great job opportunities at Gannett".... and we aren't all going to fall for that one twice.
ReplyDeleteRE: UNPAID OVERTIME.
ReplyDeleteGiven corporates SUDDEN CONCERN for Not Work any Unpaid Overtime during our Fulough, I thought this might be an interesting survey to conduct to get a feel for how big this Labor Law Violation really is. Even with the furlough I am 95% sure I'm getting laid off, so i want to get some of the overtime cash I'm entitled to and I sacrificed out of fear of losing my job. Now I've got nothing to lose. I feel like a hungry bear who needs to store food for the Long-Economic Winter we're going into.
If anyone ex/current Gannett feels/KNOWS they have worked and have not been paid for UNPAID OVERTIME and been conveniently mis-classified as EXEMPT when they are in fact non-exempt, e-mail me with your postion, story & location (state or paper if possible).
tammjenanalytics@live.com
I dreamed about work last night, twice. In one of the dreams, the department head called me into an urgent meeting, but I had to climb a ladder into the attic to get there.
ReplyDeleteTentative steps into an unknown future, right, Dr. Jung?
Show of hands ... how many current Community Newspaper employees still expect to work for Gannett by the next holiday season?
ReplyDeleteWhat holiday? Groundhog Day?
ReplyDeleteThe " BLUE FLU" holiday is coming up
ReplyDeleteSince I didn't get the response I needed yesterday, I need to post again.
ReplyDeleteIn the NJ Group, I need to hear from anyone who took a voluntary buyout and has filed for unemployment benefits. The key words are VOLUTARY BUYOUT and NJ.
I am being told that the voluntary buyout diqualifies me from unemployment. Now that I am out of salary continuance and trying to collect it. I did not collect immediately upon the start of the buyout discovering that was not allowed in NJ. Since my job was not replaced, and since the letter from Tom Donovan threatened layoffs if the voluntary buyouts didn't reduce expenses enough, I think there is reason to fight it.
PLEASE, if anyone else has already been through this, email me at:
RRandyTBear@aol.com
Thank you!
NOT many!
ReplyDeleteThe longer I'm away from Gannett (6 months now) the less I miss it.
ReplyDeleteEndless droning from corporate stiffs.
More "to do" lists and more brilliant ideas from Phil Currie. Ol' PC was great at guzzling wine and finding lots of work for smaller, understaffed news rooms (oh, I'm so sorry, I meant Information Centers) to do.
Publishers who follow along blindly and force feed all this crap to a bunch of people who try as they might can't stay ahead of the curve.
Cover your ass. Follow the edicts. You'll get promoted.
Then downsized.
Happy New Year!
What was once a good company. Gone straight to hell!
ReplyDeleteHey Jim.. Great job with this website. Well informed.
ReplyDelete1:46 So you want to renege on a debt? Stockholders are people who put up their own money in the expectation of getting a certain return, called a dividend. It is just like putting money in a savings account, and expecting an interest payment on it. Now you want to alter the agreement and screw over the stockholder. The stock is down, so their investment is less than it once was. Now you want to reduce their return on their investment. I am with Corporate on this one. Leave the dividend alone.
ReplyDeleteI would love to say I have hours of unpaid overtime, but I can't. The company has always treated me right. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI was kinda hoping that the current NewsWatch would be something from Kate Marymont that reflected her approach to her new job.
ReplyDeleteInstead there's a call for "friends of Phil Currie" to donate to a scholarship fund at the University of Iowa in his name.
Sigh...
to 11:13 AM
ReplyDeleteThe point that you fail to realize, is that when investors buy stock, there is no promise or guarentee that the stock will gain them money. Stocks are a risk and investors chance losing it all.
That is not the same as putting your money in a private savings account that is insured and interest gaining.
Stock price has dropped from $89 per share when I was hired, down to $7 when I was set free.
And the investors earned a dividend?
Get real Snoopy.
Greed = Stupidity
ReplyDeleteLeave the dividend alone? Are you out of your f'ing mind? What stocks have a return of 21%?
ReplyDeleteHow about cutting the dividend and paying down debt? Instant budget savings... No interest payments.
11:13 Why is the stockholder dividend any more sacred than the salary a company agrees to pay an employee? And why should the employee have to give up pay for that dividend?
ReplyDeleteThat kind of thinking is typical MBA Bullsh*t.
Re: RJK - Page 24 of the NJ Dept of Labor and Workforce Development Division of Unemployment Insurance says: Continuation Pay if by contractual or other agreement, your employeer continues to pay your wages and foregoes the services normally performed by you thru your date of termination, this is considered to be "Continuation Pay." These payments may be either paid in the customary pay period cycles, or in a luump sum. You are considered to be "employed" during this and you are not entitled to unemployment benefits. Your claim for benefits is considered invalid because you are not considered unemployed. A new claim may be filed after the effective daye of seperation from the employment.
ReplyDelete11:13, bullshit. A 5% return on the principle is greedy in today's crumbling economy.
ReplyDeleteIf these people who invested their capital did their jobs to direct management toward profitability, their principle wouldn't have lost stock-price value.
Owning stock isn't an entitlement. It's a risk. Gannett stockholders got dizzyingly high returns on their investment for years.
Stockholders can't expect to do nothing but make money. There's a reason such investments aren't federally insured and are deemed at varying degree of risk -- risk you could lose money as easily as you might make it.
I've been in this business for years. I am shocked at the whiners who continue to say "I worked unpaid overtime beause I was afraid of my boss." Sorry not buying it. News folks from the begining of time have been the most arogant group of people I've ever met. They have to be in order to challenge politicians and the like. This is a group that goes to college, in some cases work for advanced degrees, and then perform great work. All of a sudden during difficult times they are suddenly terrified of the big bad editors. Noy buying it. You are either liars or the biggest bunch of whimps I've ever heard of. You can't name one person that was ever, EVER, fired because they put the correct hours on their timecard. Not one. And the folks that brag on the blog that they hope they get laid off are also liars. No one wants to get laid off. If you could have found another job during good times you would have, but you never did. This is the same company you joined, 5, 10, 30 years ago. It was always bottom line driven. You were excited to get the job at the pay you were offered. But suddenly you aren't happy with the pay. Want to save jobs for others? Quit on Monday. It will save layoffs down the line. But you won't. Instead you will go in the bathroom and take a crap on the floor. Oh sorry, that's only in Jersey.
ReplyDeleteThey who make the most money from keeping the dividend where it is should not be the same ones who decide to keep it at 41 cents.
ReplyDeleteAt the very least, the board should return their dividend checks until the stock hits a set point, say $15.
11:13: Not quite. Stockholders may expect the current dividend but know it can go up and down with the prospects of the business. One reason companies try not to cut the dividend is that it signals real weakness in the company's prospects. But the board should realize there's not much to be lost in cutting a 20% dividend -- the market has already factored a dividend cut into the stock price. The market expects the dividend to be cut by two-thirds, perhaps more.
ReplyDeleteThe stockholders own this damn cow, not the workers. As the Gannett cow gave less milk, the stockholders cut its feed to keep their own cash flow.
ReplyDeleteThe cow now is malnourished and dying. She needs more than feed to keep her milking. Do you think the stockholders care about keeping her alive if she doesn't give milk?
Sad day for stockholders and employees, but the stockholders should have checked to make sure their management fed and bred her. The hired hands (and the Guild) could have taken -- and still can take -- a collective stand instead of watching her die, and their jobs with her.
No one has taken a furlough yet.
If you act collectively, you can add terms to an agreement to bear the cost to feed this cow, which anyone can see won't be enough anyway. Why should you feed her if her owners are going to continue to neglect her?
You're being stupid not to make sure 1) the owners are committed to giving the cow the care needed to make her milkable again, and 2) the stockholders repay you with interest for the feed you're giving her now so they don't have to invest ANYTHING in saving her.
The idea that the "what's in it for you" is merely having a job is slave mentality. No owner of anything can profit without labor.
If labor stops, owners make nothing, just like labor, but they also stand to lose their capital.
So, don't sell yourselves short. You're not powerless if you work together. Make the owners -- the stockholders -- listen.
11:13 AM, you weren't a business or finance major, were you? You don't have the first clue that there's a difference between loaning your money to a business and becoming an owner of it by purchasing public stock.
ReplyDeleteIf you're one of those stockholders, why didn't you lend your money to whomever would guarantee you such a return? Buying stock guarantees you equal chance of losing it all as it does doubling the investment.
D.M. Register fails to name the list of Iowa companies in this article. What type of investigative journalism is this...
ReplyDeleteDeployed Iowans find jobs at risk
By WILLIAM PETROSKI • bpetroski@dmreg.com • © 2009, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company • January 18, 2009
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Buzz up! Ernest Jennings was a little surprised in 2003 when he heard a new band director had been hired at Des Moines North High School.
That's because he had never quit the job.
Jennings was in the Iraqi desert at the time, running hazardous truck convoy missions from Kuwait into Baghdad as a captain with the Iowa Army National Guard. He was lucky, though, because a band director's post opened for him at Des Moines East High School when he got home.
Mark Meyer, a Marine Corps reservist, wasn't so fortunate. Meyer was abruptly fired as retail manager of a Goodwill Industries store in Waterloo in May 2004, despite previously being named "Employee of the Year." It was three days after he told his boss he had been ordered to duty in Iraq. He sued, claiming discrimination and wrongful discharge because of his military obligation to serve his country.
An investigation by The Des Moines Register shows that dozens of Iowa employers have not complied with a law protecting the civilian jobs of thousands of Americans serving on military duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.
The idea behind the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act is that soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen shouldn't have to worry about losing their employment back home while they are overseas dodging bullets, mortar shells and roadside bombs.
Yet records obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor under the federal Freedom of Information Act show 304 administrative complaints were lodged against public and private employers in Iowa from fiscal years 2001 to 2008 for alleged violations of the federal law. Situations involving many other service members have been addressed informally, through the courts, and through other means.
Jennings said he never complained because a good teaching job was waiting for him when he returned home; Meyer's lawyers simply filed a federal lawsuit while he was on duty in Fallujah, Iraq.
The Register's review showed that 203 of the 304 complaints were resolved by granting veterans' claims, through settlements or administrative procedures, by withdrawing claims, or by other means, federal officials said. The other complaints were tossed out as having no merit or were not eligible for consideration.
Thousands of veterans across the United States have had problems with re-employment upon returning home. During 2007 alone, the U.S. Department of Labor closed 1,200 complaints by service members against American employers, recovering almost $1.9 million in lost wages and benefits, according to a federal report.
Iowans filing grievances said they have been fired, demoted, passed over for pay raises and promotions, and suffered other losses because of military commitments. Some examples include:
• An Iraq veteran who said his supervisor described his service as "military crap."
• A Des Moines man who told his employer he was joining the U.S. Army Reserve and was told, "Good for you, and good luck." The next day he was fired.
• An Iraq war veteran from Muscatine who was fired in 2005 after he showed up late for work twice, federal records show. Although he had told his boss he had been awake in the middle of the night with nightmares from seeing a close friend killed in Iraq, he said his boss replied that it was "not his problem and that I had to deal with it."
The labor records did not include names of service members or companies.
Most employers comply, but obstacles remain
Almost two-thirds of the 304 complaints have been filed by some of the more than 12,000 soldiers and airmen called to duty in the Iowa National Guard since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Other complaints against Iowa employers have been made by reservists, regular military members and prospective service members, federal records show.
Thousands of Iowans are still serving, including 535 Iowa National Guard troops in Iraq and Kuwait, 20 in Afghanistan, and 90 in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on a peacekeeping mission.
Military officials acknowledge that repeated deployments of Guard and Reserve troops have created a hardship for many Iowa employers, although they say that's part of the price of an all-volunteer military. Americans haven't been conscripted for military service since the draft was abolished in the 1970s. The Guard and Reserve compose almost half of the nation's armed forces, and they are now needed as an ongoing operational force instead of simply being a standby reserve.
The federal labor law has been effective in protecting the civilian jobs of most Iowans called to military duty, according to John Derner, a Navy veteran who is state adjutant for the nearly 70,000-member American Legion in Iowa.
"Most employers understand their requirements and understand their obligations," Derner said. "It is the few who don't understand it or who aren't knowledgeable about it where we have problems."
Most of the complaints of returning veterans have been quickly resolved with employers, said Anthony Smithart, director of veterans and employment services for the U.S. Department of Labor in Iowa. He said he was aware of two instances in recent years, including Meyer's case, that have led to federal lawsuits being filed by Iowa military service members against Iowa businesses.
"Usually it's not upper-level management at fault. It is not human resources. It is that middle-management, street-manager guy who has to get a product out. He says things he shouldn't say or does things he shouldn't do because he is concerned with other things," Smithart said.
For example:
• A veteran from Le Mars who had been wounded and had close friends killed in the Iraq war filed a complaint in 2005 against a Sioux City employer. He alleged that when he returned from combat to a "family-oriented company based on Christian values," he was demoted from his production job. He said he was assigned to scrubbing drains and trash cans. The veteran said a supervisor told him, "If you don't like it, quit. Good luck finding another job that pays you what we do here."
• An Iowa National Guard soldier told federal labor officials in June 2007 that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of harassment by his employer. He told of a memo from his boss that warned him that "any request to volunteer for active duty is declined. ... If you choose to volunteer for deployment ... I cannot guarantee that you will have a position upon your return."
• A southeast Iowa veteran who came home from Iraq in December 2005 said he returned to his civilian employer in Fort Madison and found a job vacancy had been posted during his absence. The job was taken by someone with less seniority. When he informed his employer he was entitled to the job under federal law, he said a supervisor responded, "Too bad. You just go ahead and call them if you think it will do any good." The veteran did complain to federal labor officials, and he did get the job, records show.
However, returning veterans don't always ask for federal officials to intervene, which raises questions about whether complaint numbers alone can fully explain compliance with the federal law or employer support, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog agency. A U.S. Department of Defense survey in 2004 showed at least 72 percent of National Guard and reserve members with re-employment problems never sought assistance.
Iowa added law in '08 to protect veterans' jobs
Maj. Gen. Ron Dardis, who is retiring as adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, said he is aware some Iowa employers have been uncooperative with Guard members. But he said he believes the vast majority have been supportive.
"You can understand how difficult it is for employers to lose key people time after time on deployments. So I can understand how difficult it is for employers to remain supportive," Dardis said. "But what I have been seeing from employers has been really, really strong, and I still see that today across the state of Iowa."
A Defense Department agency known as the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve works with employers, employees and communities to ensure understanding of the role of Guard and Reserve members. The organization conducts employer workshops throughout Iowa to encourage the development of company policies and practices to encourage employee participation in Guard and Reserve units.
"In my opinion, employers are just as much a part of the fighting force of America today as the soldiers and their families. This is a partnership," said Barry Spear of Des Moines, state chairman of the employer support group's committee. Iowa businesses including Deere & Co. and Hy-Vee Inc., among many others, have made it clear they want to hire citizen-soldiers, he said.
But state Rep. McKinley Bailey, a Webster City Democrat who served in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he's heard from many veterans who have returned home and had trouble finding jobs. These people are seeking work after completing multiyear enlistments in the regular military forces.
"If you have been an infantryman for the past four years, you don't have a whole lot of marketable skills," Bailey said. "We have to teach employers that you may have to show me how to use this computer program, but you can be certain I will show up for work and I will be motivated."
The Iowa Legislature approved legislation in 2008 that strengthens the laws protecting the jobs of employees returning from military duty. The legislation requires that returning service members be restored to the same position, or a position with similar seniority, status and pay.
"Iowa's brave soldiers embody the spirit of service in all Iowans," said Gov. Chet Culver at a bill-signing ceremony last February. "I am committed to doing whatever is necessary to help make the transition back into civilian life easier for our returning veterans."
Another concern is that some employers are discriminating against job applicants upon learning they are Guard or Reserve members, according to the Reserve Officers Association, a Washington-based advocacy group. State Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, a Monticello Democrat who served in Iraq with the Iowa Army National Guard, said he's worried such a problem exists in Iowa.
"The employers put on the public persona; they put those magnet things on their car and they have a flag flying that says 'support our troops.' But when somebody goes in there and they say they are a Guardsman and they want a job they say, 'Nope, we aren't hiring,' " Zirkelbach said.
Stories play out with lawsuits, new jobs
For Jennings, the Army National Guard captain, being replaced as band director at Des Moines North High School while was serving in Iraq was a shock, he said. But he quickly added, "I was a little naive to think that a long-term sub was going to be there for over a year until I got back."
Jennings said he was happy to be assigned to East High School. He is now assistant director of the marching band at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, he is a detachment commander with the Wisconsin National Guard's 641st Troop Command Battalion in Madison.
"I felt that the Des Moines public schools was trying to do the right thing by me," Jennings said. "They don't promise you the same job when you get back, just a similar job."
Twyla Woods, the Des Moines district's human resources director, said Jennings' situation was complicated because when he left on military duty, the district was still legally obligated to educate his students.
"We had to fill that position," she said. "But that didn't mean that when he came back we wouldn't have given him an equal position, which is what did happen."
Meyer, the Marine Corps Reserve sergeant, had a more difficult time.
While he served on duty in Fallujah, one of the most dangerous places in Iraq in 2004, he was also battling his former employer in court. Court documents said Meyer had repeatedly received high performance ratings as a manager with Goodwill Industries. But after he was ordered to service with the Marines, his civilian boss completed an overdue performance review that disparaged him. Three days later, he was terminated.
Goodwill Industries said in court records that Meyer, who has since completed his service in the Marine Reserve, was fired for reasons that had nothing to do with his military status. The case was settled out of court, said Ronnie Podolefsky, one of Meyer's lawyers, and the agreement says Meyer must not comment further.
Meyer is now studying financial management at the University of Northern Iowa, and he works full time for an organization that helps people with disabilities.
This is second-hand, but NJ Unemployment told at least one buyout person that buyouts ARE eligible to collect UI after the severance. The bi-weekly paychecks are "continuance pay" for voluntary terminations and "severance pay" for involuntary, which determines if UI is collectible immediately or at the end of severance.
ReplyDeleteBut, buyout and layoffs are equally tools in the corporate-wide Reduction In Force belt. I think it wouldn't be legal for UI to deny eligibility to buyouts, who almost all would have lost their jobs involuntarily with half the severance and no age-discrimination claim if they hadn't taken it voluntarily.
My question for NJ buyouts would be: Do you think Gannett is behind an effort to deny UI to buyouts? The mass layoffs since the buyouts, with more likely to come, has to be hurting Gannett's UI obligations, so I wouldn't put it past management.
Word verification:
ReplyDeleteboat-tu-dai
Randy Joke? Or chilling omen?
The Titanic or the USS Minnow?
Time for a poll?
To: 12:11 PM
ReplyDeleteThank you for reaching out!
The problem I am having is getting NJ Unemployment to qualify me for benefits now, AFTER my salary continuation has run its full course. I am being told that employees who take "voluntary buyouts" are not qualified even if subsequent layoffs have taken place. This was information from a claims representative at NJUI and the actual telephone interview occurs on February 24. I believe we are not referring to the same situation. If you have more information from someone (perhaps you) who has reached the point I am at, please (double please) get back to me.
RRandyTBear@aol.com
Just looking at Gannett's 10-Q for the third quarter, the latest period available, this company has some serious problems that are likely to manifest themselves further on Jan. 30. Here are some of the particulars that jump out:
ReplyDelete-- The company's liquidity (current assets to current liabilities) has eroded badly in the past year. This goes to the company's ability to pay bills, make acquisitions, pay down debt, etc.
-- The company's debt-to-equity ratio has worsened dramatically in the past year. This ratio is used to measure overall indebtedness of a company. For all Gannett's positive cash flow, it reduced its long-term debt by a mere 4.6 percent in the first nine months of 2008.
-- Gannett carries a disturbingly high level of goodwill -- $8.5 billion as of 9/28. Goodwill is the value of assets over and above their purchase price. In an environment of drastically falling asset values, Gannett's accountants should be pressing for a major goodwill writedown, which will be subtracted from Q4 income.
-- For all the moaning this company does about its problems, it still posted a 9.6 % NET (13 % pretax) profit margin in Q3! 58 percent of that net profit was paid out in dividends. That money should be going toward the payoff of debt and reinvestment in its business.
1:15 PM
ReplyDeleteDid you have to sign somthing saying you would not file an age discrimination claim?
Thanks.
I don't understand why people hate gannett so much. You work there. Obviously you wouldn't work for a gannett property if you didn't secretly like your job. You idiots bitch and whine every day about your job or people at your property. Shut the hell up. Why don't you quit if it's so bad?instead of being concerned about other people at your paper why don't you try to better yourself and stop being a junior high girl about it. Grow up you idiots. You're lucky you even have a job. If I was your boss I'd fucking fire you for being such a little bitch.
ReplyDelete12:27 can defend Gannett all he/she wants, but many people reading this blog didn't voluntarily sign on. My paper was acquired, and it's been downhill ever since. I knew before then from attending API sessions with editors from Gannett papers that working for Gannett was no picnic, so it wasn't much of a surprise. Journalists may be nomads, but once you have a house, kids, roots in the community, simply walking away is not much of an option, even if there were jobs to walk away to. Perhaps things would be nearly as bad if my paper were still family owned, but it's hard to imagine. Day after day, what Gannett's flunkies do makes the death of good newspapers a self fulfilling prophecy.
ReplyDeletehey 2:19: Those flunkies will be out too.. sooner than later.
ReplyDeleteJust read a story from one of the smaller papers. It was a reporter's account of what it was like being the one selected by editors to make the long trip to D.C. for the Obama inauguration.
ReplyDeleteDid other Gannett papers send people? If so, on what basis did editors decide who was going?
RRandy in NJ
ReplyDeletedon't know if you heard this yet...Unemployment made me get a "separation letter" from my former employer stating that my position had been eliminated.
Is it possible to get one of the HR yo-yo's to give you something on company letterhead stating that your position has been eliminated?
It really is all about the wording.
My sentiments exactly, 2:19 PM.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the NJ buyout, I think we are talking about the same thing. I don't think being denied UI is valid, nor is it consistent with what other buyouts have told me they were told in their UI interviews.
Buyouts in NJ are expecting to collect unemployment when severance ends. Don't your Gannett severance papers say so? You're the first I've heard of having reached that point so far.
I don't see how UI could rationalise based on whether a job was filled. My former Gannett paper clearly targeted RIFs based on the highest salaries, not on actual elimination of positions or the work performed.
ReplyDeleteThe person eliminated in a buyout in my department was the highest paid. He was replaced a couple of months later by someone internally. A couple of months after that, I was laid off and not replaced. At that point, I was the highest salary. Would Gannett get out of that UI obligation by saying the buyout's position was refilled?
What I see is Gannett slashing salaries by getting rid of people hired before Gannett bought the joint. They still are hiring new people for $20K-something to do the same jobs as the people they got rid of.
The layoff would bother me less if they'd at least be honest about it. The buyouts and layoffs are about nothing more than depressing wages, not positions, so they can increase their already profitable profit lines and stockholders can pocket more cash.
Are we still to expect letters around Jan 20 for layoffs in February? Or was that mitigated by the furlough?
ReplyDeleteHeh 2:19 the days of family ownership are over. Your"Family" were greedy bastards who sold you out. If they didn't want the hundreds of millions you'd still be working for them. So stop whining. You were too lazy to get off your ass and go get another job. SO either go get another job or shut up.
ReplyDeletePut "Sign up for unemployment" at the top of your furlough week list of things to do. Whether you get it or not, remember that it's a company's claims history that determines how much unemployment tax employers pay. That's why companies fight claims. It costs money the next year.
ReplyDeleteIt's not your fault Gannett terminated your employemnt for a week.
Hey 12:27...the unpaid overtime exists in every dept. The adv. dept gives you so much work to do, you can't get it all done with all the deadlines without an extra 30 minutes or so a day. Plus, I was classified as an exempt employee and realized after I left the company that federal law had been violated by not paying me overtime.
ReplyDeleteWhen they don't replace a person in advertising for months on end, they will add the entire workload to one person's already heavy load and expect them to do it in 40 hours. Such b.s....
Tells us what your job was 7:15. Let us decide if you should ahve been exempt. It is easy to look at a statue and decide for yourself you should have been non exempt.
ReplyDeleteLeave a shit on the floor that stops un-paid overtime. The labor board makes a presence, corporate HR shows up. Executive editors Directors etc. notice the time.
ReplyDeleteI repeat, give us an example of someone who was termianted for filling out overtime on a timecard. The silence is deafening.
ReplyDeleteI am finding it funny that the company wants employees to take a furlough, but they won't guarantee that there won't be anymore layoffs. layoff's just means they are shifting the workload to other employees without compensating them for additional duties. What about all the employees that busted their butt for the company and now don't have a job. Those that just milked the money, can't feel sorry for you as you should have been gone long ago.
ReplyDeleteScrew them, they are making money and not paying the employees what they desire. Unions need to stand up to this nonsense.
To let you know Utah isn't any better, replace the management and get some people who really care. That's what makes a company.
This is just like any other company out there. Greed. Do you think they are concerned about there employees--Hell NO. They will try and find any way they can to save COSTS maybe they should think about downsizing on the management or maybe a million dollar paycut, shucks you have a few more million coming in even with the cut.
ReplyDeleteWhen you go home at night to your half million dollar houses and your nice cars, think about those who are loosing their houses, or can't feed their families because you had to lay them off.
Surprise, it might be you one day.
What comes around goes around.
No wonder people don't have anything nice to say.
The Spectrum Newspaper in St. George Utah isn't doing any better. We lost our circulation dept to Oklahoma, our accounting dept to Iowa, our IT is out of Phoenix, we had lost two great employees and then they laid off close to 15 people early in December, now I hear that we lost a few more in the last few weeks. I can tell you one thing, our customer service is the worst I have every seen, people are hesitant to advertise with us and the workload keeps being piled on every time we loose someone. I will tell you one thing, the publisher better get his head out of his butt and start making changes. Laying off people isn't going to solve the problem, you need to realize where the money comes from and start treating them a lot better. People are not going to pay to be treated like crap. No redelivery except on Sunday that paper is being paid for. The advertising department better wake up, people are very cautious with their money and if you can't even get the billing right, why would they want to spend more money advertising with you. I have never seen a company were customers complain that they can't get their phone calls returned when they have been miss billed. Over half a million dollars being sent to collections, I think you are laying off the wrong people. Lay off those that do their job, "your on the right track", as long as you get your paycheck it doesn't matter what you are doing to those good workers. It was a shock to customers that some of the hard working employees are gone for whatever reason. It's just amazing what one company in a small town is able to do.
ReplyDelete2:17 is a manager (for now) kissing ass.
ReplyDelete2:17 ignore 8:34. He is reading out of the union manners book that outline show you speak to anyone who doesn't agree wiht you.
ReplyDeleteRepect and Dignity!!!! What's enxt 8:34; Star nails?
Poor Keep Positive:
ReplyDeleteYou are so naive.
Caring doesn't make a company; profits make a company.
Caring is for the United Way, Girl Scouts and local churches.
Gannett is a profit-minded company. When in the hell are you people going to wake up and get it?
Happy New Year!!!
Can someone tell me where it's "lunch" time all day. Lookin to transfer.
ReplyDeleteIrish dude right on! The newbie's remind me of an old Dylan song. "Your gonna serve somebody"
ReplyDeleteYo 8:34 you'd think after workin gin a job for 2 years that you hated you'd leve. Staying 10 years just means your a MORON!
ReplyDeleteMy advice...sell 90% of the properties for what you can get...take loses long term. Keep the television stations and the properties who really get and have potential to do the IC for content...so many major whinners come up on the board time, after time, after time....I'd sell everything east of the Mississippi. Buy into markets where you can own print, tv and create a kick butt web site. Sell every property under 100k circulation.
ReplyDeleteIts all about the margain.
9:00 Perhaps it was good until you jerkoff's manned ship.
ReplyDelete3:06,
ReplyDeleteWilmington (Del.) is sending a shitload of people, reporters and photographers both, because of the Biden connection to Delaware. They're blogging, Twittering, shooting everything from the balls to the parades. I'm sure it duplicates a ton of shit that GNS - er, CO - is doing, but what really matters is the local byline, right??? Dumbasses.
Wilmington is also wasting money on a midday "street edition" on Tuesday afternoon, plus working on a book about Biden. Waste of fucking time and energy.
yo 9.00 pm being the young dumb punk that you are you couldn't reconize that jobs are good in the beginning until people or companies, without a union, give up certain conditions before in years it goes to crap withoin like 5 to 10 years................you have a kid or get finaciallly stuck and become a slave ..........ingnorant punk! Its not overnight like your wet dream or when you were even crapping green in your diaper, that bring the working conditions to a lower bowel extrement like your mental thinking and thats why certain companies enjoy hire lil shitheads like you who will suck a arms length of crap and work overtime for no pay and are proud to call themselves low quality scabs! Unions are the new way to dignity!! LOve the USA!!
ReplyDeleteCould not disagree more 3:06. every paper in america should have a special edition out Tuesday afternoon, hawking it at every train station. with a front-page offer of a free subscription for the first 100 days. and then cover the heck out of the new adminstration's plans to save the economy and put on the Front Page. America needs newspapers' in-depth coverage now more than ever.
ReplyDeletethis is 2:17, Thanks for proving my point irish dick lover. Lol, homo. Any way yeah I am young but no I am NOT a manager. I have been a manager at companies previous to gannett but nope, not one here. Majority of the people I see on here complain about their jobs instead of trying to make it better. I did actually drink Koolaid today, fuck nut however, it was not in south america. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteIf you spend your time complaining about your job and being concerned about others you'll never get anywhere. You wont move up at your paper and odds are you wont even get a job outside of the paper business. You'll wind up being a miserable ass giving everybody a hard time. I'm sure you ALL have at least one of those at your property.
You should ask yourself before you comment: Do I sound like a school girl bitching, whining and gossiping?
11:13 a.m. - Leave the dividend alone? Or what? The stock price will tank? Or things will get bad, and Gannett might have to close newspapers, and furlough employees? News flash, investors -- the stock isn't $90 a share anymore. And investors' comfort level isn't my primary concern at the moment. Figuring out how I'm going to pay my bills is.
ReplyDelete"Please, IGNORE abusive posters; deny them the attention they crave."
ReplyDeleteThank you!
7:35 PM
ReplyDeleteGannett would never admit someone's employment was terminated for OT reasons and you know that so quit asking the question. Nope, the company's managers are way too creative for that.
With your kind of thinking, I hope you're not one of the stenographers calling themselves reporters that the company seems to attract.
When I got my check last week I noticed I received four hours of overtime pay. You know whwt, that's what I worked. That's how it always has been. I've never had a problem.
ReplyDelete8:23, you should be happy you're paid for your OT. Like several others have said, they don't report OT because they want to make themselves as indispensable as possible, and we're not talking about your little four hours of OT spread over two weeks. Some put in far more in an effort to not get laid off.
ReplyDelete10:41 PM
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that putting the new administration's plans to save the economy, and having reporters Twitter stuff from D.C. is the same as giving reader's indepth coverage?
In response to RJK...
ReplyDeleteI know a few folks who took the buy-out voluntarily and all of them are receiving their severence pay and they ARE receiving NJ unemployment benefits. No one has been denied UI. Two of these people live in different counties.
Was told no OT this year yet we would be getting raises????? How odd is that. Is it just “talk“ to get people to stay. How is it even a raise when we are being laid off for a week? What do we do when we are on deadline and have to stay? I'm logging any and all unpaid hours to document later. We have always been paid for OT so I'm not sure how his will be handled.I find it rather ironic that the Managers and VPs tell us to call if we are going to be late or sick, yet they don't even call their AA if they are going to be out that day, until the afternoon. Don't do as I do, do as I say. It's the ones that abuse the system that are the first ones to tell their staff to do something they never do. Take a look in the mirror guys
ReplyDelete