For that reason, the board of directors should immediately convene an independent investigation into wage and hour practices at every Gannett operating unit. Waiting for more employees to threaten legal action would simply put more shareholder equity at risk. As one Gannett Blog reader said in a comment on this post: "I hope that editor is ready to sacrifice his job, and the jobs of many others when the labor board slaps millions of dollars in fines on the Courier-Post. And don't think it won't happen. This blog is all the evidence they need to start an audit."I would think Gannett Director Donna Shalala (above), Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration, would be especially sympathetic.
Give the board a nudge by contacting Gannett's investor relations department at gcishare@gannett.com. And please consider copying me, using this link for e-mail. See Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.
Dear Gannett Board of Directors,
ReplyDeleteYou're probably keeping an eye on Jim's high-traffic Web site here, especially as things get stirred up over the Courier Post situation and impending strike in Honolulu.
I implore you to listen to the pleas of these workers. These are not random incidents. These are incidents symptomatic of the entire Gannett system which has failed miserably in both providing good journalism to subscribers (often by tying the hands of employees with ridiculous mandates) and abusing hardworking, loyal employees who strive to do the best they can.
I left a job I loved recently and the main reason was the horrendous amount of overtime I had to put in. As journalists, we all know that you're on call 24/7 should news break. We accept it and are willing to respond -- it's our job. But to have your regular work week be an average 60 hours and you are being compensated for 37.5 should be illegal.
Are we working in a coal mine? If so, I think the Gannett canary just keeled over.
Should a Congressional investigation ever be opened into Gannett's practices, I'll be the first to raise my hand to give testimony.
STOP THE ABUSE!
Signed,
A former Gannett department head
(P.S. Thank you Jim for your continued advocacy! Stay strong Cherry Hill & Honolulu!)
It's a pleasure!
ReplyDeleteDear Gannett Board of Directors:
ReplyDeleteThis is not much ado about nothing.
I know of repeated cases of employees quitting, then the positions "left dark," and another employee asked to do the job of two or more people. These aren't the types of jobs that can be fudged. These are deadlined pages-to-fill-and-create kind of jobs. There's nothing to do but work more hours.
When these same employees work overtime more than two weeks running, they're repeatedly given "promotions" to salaried positions with not-so-fancy titles like "assistant news editor" - the funny part is the news editor position is "dark." And, suddenly, the person is working even more hours, making less. The bottom line is employees are being abused.
This is not a one-paper, one-time happening.
Please make it stop. If another company were practicing these unethical management decisions, newspapers - even Gannett ones - would be all over the story. Who's watching the watchdogs?
It's a fairly open secret that reporters at Gannett papers in New Jersey are forced to falsify their time sheets. We were instructed to "vary up" our time-in and time-out times on our cards so as not to trip the notice of the Labor Dept. by putting the same times in and out for lunch every day. Reporters were doing this because who ever had time to take a lunch break!
ReplyDeleteThe NJ papers need to unionize. While there are a lot of good editors at each of the papers, upper management is like a wasteland of morons and yesmen who can only cowtow to an endless parade of mandates that only serve to drive people away from the newspaper.
I implore you, take a look at The Asbury Park Press even in the early days of Gannett's ownership, and look at it now. It's a barely readable rag staffed with a skeleton crew of broken, defeated veterans waiting for a pay-out and fresh-out-of-college fools who don't know any better.
The first poster said: "But to have your regular work week be an average 60 hours and you are being compensated for 37.5 should be illegal." Er. It IS illegal. And it's not just happening in Jersey ...
ReplyDeleteThe unpaid OT issue is not only newsroom. It's in production, accounting, advertising, circulation, IS, and any other place that they can get away with it. My first hand experience was at the APP.
ReplyDelete