Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sunday | March 22 | Your News & Comments
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85 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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What was the best piece of journalism you read in your newspaper today?
ReplyDelete3/22/2009 1:31 AM
ReplyDeleteThe local news was the best journalism I read today ....thanks for asking!
Not sure but worth its price in gold on Sunday. Paper weight about 2 pounds lots of good coupones. Some good articles. Today I read the paper with my coffee
ReplyDeleteThe furlough must have hurt Indy Star today - their main front page graphic has the pictures switched so it contradicts the headline - good times!
ReplyDeleteI take that back - the pictures are right but the income levels are switched - same contradictory result though
ReplyDeleteWhen the local editor of the NJ, ask readers, their view of the News Paper> That really helped, my upset stomach. I threw up from laughing so hard, all the bad taste. Now I feel so good that I am going to start to read a REAL NEWSPAPER, "the NEW YORK TIMES."not a pretend Gannett's one.
ReplyDeleteRumors are like assholes,everyone on here has one. I wish people would just stop all the BS when it comes to these. People keep saying I heard this ,I heard that,It's confirmed from the Janitor that there going to do this.
ReplyDeletePlease !!!
Unless you have a direct connection some how with one of the GOD's and are willing to use your name and the names of the people that gave you this info,and have fact's to your info,Then please do post. But if you can't or don't then PLEASE stop or atleast try to refrain yourself from starting the BS.
It's like we are not under enough stress right now,and having to deal with the rumors doesn't help any. Just get it in your minds that the GOD's are going to do what they want to whom ever they want and when it happen's then deal with it,until then there is no need to be stressing over the rumor's. Our health along with our families are the most important things right now...
I read the Springfield paper, and the News-Leader and good journalism don't often collide here.
ReplyDeleteToday's big stories were a look back at the Great Depression and a look back at the local university's run to the NCAA Final Four 10 years ago. Wow, I'm impressed with all the hard-hitting journalism.
To those journos who say charge for access to your newspaper's web site, stop giving away the news for free -- the reverse is happening now. Sites that formerly charged for access to news content have gone to free access. Just two examples: Variety and the WSJ. Variety, the venerable entertainment industry daily, opened up free access to its site about 1-1/2 years ago. While the WSJ still charges for access to some articles, under Rupert much more content has become free to readers. So I contend that paid newspaper web sites won't work. If I want regional/state news, I can get it from other free web sites, such as tv, radio or other papers. I can get state AP stories from several web sites now. As for ultra local coverage, your daily would be up against the local weekly or free shopper. Fluff in that free shopper, you say? You'd be surprised how many folks only care about upcoming meetings of local groups, a few local people features and the 'who got busted for drunk driving' police reports. The daily newspaper biz is kinda like middle-of-the road department stores like Sears -- they can't compete against the upmarket retailers or the discount chains. The middle ground has become a swamp, the morass slowly pulling down these companies. Same with daily general audience newspapers. Just my opinion.
ReplyDelete...the biggest problem with newspapers -- at least those that are not the new york times -- is that they are predictable. no surprises. ok, few surprises. i had an editor who wanted the front page to have at least have-to-read story every day. he worked hard to find that story and feature it prominently. granted, part of that was to boost street sales.. but what do we have now? a story on cigarette prices going up with taxes. an unsolved murder (which was fairly interesting).. a story on the legislature's tax debate. of course, i didn't find that have-to-read story elsewhere in the paper..
ReplyDeleteIf things don't get better, I'm thinking about taking matters into my own hands in the second quarter and giving Gannett a one-week furlough from my life. Sure, I know I'm giving up a paycheck, but it's worth it to leave the assholes to themselves and spare myself the Mickey Mouse drudgery that journalism has become under Gannett. At some point in the future, I'm going to lay the company off and take my free agency to someone who will appreciate my talent.
ReplyDeleteA classic cartoon from Dana Summers at The Orlando Sentinel:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/
8:57 Rumors are like assholes, everyone on here has one.
ReplyDeleteToday’s blog was going so well until you arrive and started spewing your hate. “Rumors are like assholes, everyone on here has one”
Start by looking in a mirror pal! Read the blog before you just start jumping in the conversation like a four year old. And don’t knock the Janitorial staff they know everything that’s going on before most managers. They order the boxes when a layoff is coming and they read every memo ever printed and share that information with their newsroom and advertising friends. If your under stress it’s because you over extended yourself living in a home you cannot afford, watching a big screen that was charged on your credit card at 12% and driving leased vehicles.
So, 8:57 I have five words for you. Shut the Fuck up Donny!
Facts:
ReplyDelete1. Furlough one week length
2. One week "temporary" payroll reduction
3. USCP layoffs now coming end of second quarter
4. 401k matches will be cut next quarter
#1 and #2 will happen on Monday. #3 will be reviewed by Group Presidents at next meeting.
#4 is not confirmed, but has been bantered around by coporate
This part is rumor, but might be true:
1. Hawaii will be closed if not sold.
Temporary payroll deduction?
ReplyDeleteIs that corp speak for "pay cut"?
So who is your BOSS!!! With all these FACTS!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat does "one week temporary payroll reduction" exactly mean? Do they think we are going to work and not get paid? Wouldn't that be illegal?
ReplyDeleteThis was the most amusing piece of journalism I read today. Please note how Detroit Free Press editor Paul Anger artfully covers up the fact that the paper is getting rid of its standalone Local News and Travel sections:
ReplyDeleteCompact newspapers packed with headlines
On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, when the Free Press will be for sale at thousands of outlets and coin boxes, you'll see a product packed with news, advertising and features you rely on.
Sunday: More news, more good reading
Our first expanded Sunday Free Press will appear April 5.
• The front section: It grows, with more reports on metro Detroit, an expanded page of Michigan news, more coverage of people, politics and issues -- and more room for deeper treatments of enterprise and investigative stories.
• News + Views: A new section takes you under the surface of stories, offering analysis of local, national and world issues. News + Views will offer a major cover story, a Week in Review and profiles of newsmakers -- plus robust Free Press opinion pages and another view from the Detroit News.
• Business: We'll offer a new two-page report on financial news and markets, and stories every week about businesses succeeding and growing in Michigan.
• Life: The section will get bigger and more stylish, including new advice columns that explore relationships, dating, good nutrition, health and parenting.
• Entertainment and Travel: The two sections will combine into a one-stop product covering a range of leisure activities. The popular Names & Faces feature will be bigger than ever, books coverage will focus more on Michigan authors, and a new Scan-and-Plan feature will offer an easy guide to upcoming arts and entertainment events.
And that's not all
There'll be more content that's new and interesting, but it's still being pol
Regarding 12:48 pm: Nos. 1 and 3 are true, according to ONE source with a 100% accurate track record -- although they did not specify timing on No. 3.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I am posting this confirmation.
The rest sounds plausible.
12:18 I could not agree more with you. I've worked at the same place for about 30 years and these are my best sources....people run the mailroom, building services, workstation techs and security guards. They are people who work vertically within the organization vs. horizonitally on a specific floor.
ReplyDeleteHey Jim, did you bake a cake in celebration of Al Neuharth's birthday today? He was born on this day in 1924.
ReplyDelete401k matches will not be cut because they do not cost the company anything.
ReplyDeleteWord verification: Volker
USCP ??
ReplyDeletewhat does "USCP" mean?
ReplyDelete3:33 pm:
ReplyDeleteUSCP = U.S. Community Publishing, Gannett's division of 84 small to mid-size "community" newspapers in the United States and Guam -- all the company's papers, excluding USA Today and those in the U.K. in the Newsquest division.
Regarding 12:48 pm: I also heard 1 and 3 from my boss, although it was Q3 for layoffs. Believe that comes from pretty good sources, although boss was very careful to say this has not "officially" been told to OC yet, because if it had been through official channels, boss would not be able to say anything until after official announcements. Starting to suspect that sharing of "unofficial" info is new method for telling managers what to expect prior to "official" announcements.
ReplyDeleteHow can another furlough be announced next week? We still have big wigs on furlough. And what is a temporary pay reduction?
ReplyDeleteDid anyone hear about what Michael Maness (the DIG guy)is up to? Someone told me he is building some online-only newspaper that will compete with one of our newspapers!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to learn what he and his side kick (Laura Ramos) is up to check out their facebook pages. Quite amusing and scary. Talk about corporate waste!!!
All these two care about is eating and traveling on teh company dime!
I was afraid of this: the furloughs are becoming permanent. I don't think we will ever see that money again, and all have now to live on the reduced salary. As for the "temporary" additional week, it won't be temporary, either, but a way of doubling the salary savings corporate now has thrown out for the bigwigs to pocket. The suspension of the match on the 401K plan is no surprise. They did away with the traditional pension, and now are doing away with this one as well. They don't have a rentention problem with employees, so why do they need a pension plan to keep people at GCI?
ReplyDeleteThey are going to give Hawaii to Black, who has deep pockets.
ReplyDelete12:48p is correct, my manager just told me TODAY that I should expect a one week pay reduction for this quarter and that it is supposed to be temporary.
ReplyDeleteI asked her if we will have layoffs too and she said, that in addition to the pay cut, we will need to take a one week furlough this quarter and that layoffs are coming but that corporate is waiting until the end of the second quarter to see how bad we do.
She also mentioned that we should expect these temporary pay cuts to be permanent.
My manager has always been open and honest with us, so I am certain this is absolutely true.
2:28 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteDid Detroit and Nashville carry the same stories by editor's today? This from Mark Silverman:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090322/COLUMNIST0113/903220347/1007/OPINION
Some of it gave me hope, other parts made me laugh out loud. But the Tennessean has had some good enterprise recently at least. On the flip side, thought, they choose to not send their sports beat reporters or columnists to cover SEC or NCAA tourneys.
The front page of the local newspaper in Bucyrus had two Mansfield stories as the lead and second lead.
ReplyDeleteThe headline in the second story was wrong as it said Mansfield when the shooting took place in Ontario.
Below the fold were two local stories on Bucyrus employment and something else so dry I can't recall it.
Anyway, this is what the local newspaper has become since it's been put under the editor in Mansfield, about 30 miles away.
Just close the T-F and put out one edition. This isn't fooling anyone in Crawford County. I've lived here for almost 50 years and not seen it this bad.
Nice work, everyone.
Nobody is saying how much is a temporary pay cut?
ReplyDeleteOne week loss of pay from furlough is 7.6 percent. A second temporary week loss of pay is 7.6 percent more. That is a 15.2 percent loss of pay in Q2 that we are facing. Plus the loss of the 401K matching, and layoffs on top of it all depending on how bad Q1 was. Incredible. Makes you feel real warm and cuddly about those bonuses the board just handed out to the execs, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about a story that appeared back on my radar screen about a week ago. I ran into someone I had never met and got on the topic of a database that was published at Gannett's Lansing State Journal. It was one of those pesky state employee salary databases. The individual and I both agreed that the LSJ's Executive Editor Michael "Mickey" Hirten really flubbed on its launch. The lady I met said that the LSJ "really lost a lot" of money by deciding to publish that particular database, I couldn't agree more. If you compare the LSJ's circulation prior to the 2007 launch of the database to now, you'll see at least a decline of 15,000 daily subscribers. Call it the economy, but Lansing sits in the heart of government employee territory, since it is the state capital of Michigan.
ReplyDeleteFast-forward to today: While doing some routine house maintenance, I was thinking about how Gannett pushes Web page hits and how web advertising has been hit substantially. So when you consider that LSJ's state worker salary database only gets -- at the most -- 5,000 hits on a particular day, was Hirten's decision really a wise one? How many millions of dollars were lost in subscription/ad revenue from the state worker campaign to cancel LSJ subscriptions?
My questions: How much money did Hirten really lose Gannett? How much of that revenue are they unable to account for when they compare it to the money the database makes them? Why does Hirten still have a job at Gannett when I don't. My colleagues and I proved that we could make Gannett money -- all Hirten has done is lose Gannett money.
I have an answer: the Indy Star's Michael Kane. He has saved Hirten's from being terminated before. How many Gannett executives are holding on to jobs just because they are friends with someone a couple rungs among them?
If, indeed, we are all asked to take one week furloughs for the remaining quarters, plus one-week pay cuts on top of that, we will have effectively taken a 13% paycut this year.
ReplyDeleteThat means most of us will be back to 2003 income, yet our health coverage has grown more expensive, our pensions have been frozen and our 401ks have tanked.
Considering the increase in the cost of health coverage, the frozen pensions and cost of living increases, we're probably actually back to the wages we made in about 1998.
In other words, Dubow's 15% cut off of his base pay was a joke, especially when it was replaced by a bonus worth more than 50% of base pay.
Anyone who remains with this company any longer than needed, is foolish. The exodus of talent we'll see when the economy recovers will very likely push GCI over the edge. So, get out when you can.
Dubow is a robot idiot. Any one member of the Special Olympics can run this company! In fact, it is an insult to any retarded person that we would even compare Dubow to a mentally challenged person.
ReplyDeleteDubow is beyond mentally challenged. And his side kick Martore is his retarded helper.
God help this company.
Question Jim...
ReplyDeleteIf the board actually removed Craig Dubow from his position, who would take over for him?
Is anyone qualified from the GMC? What about the industry? What type of person should take over?
We should start sending this message to the board.
I am certain these board members all have their names as "Google alerts". Maybe the only way to get their attention is to constantly write about them on this blog and get them to respond to our questions.
We need to all work together to get this morn out of office.
4:57 -- While Gannett makes many bad moves, publishing unpopular stories isn't one of them.
ReplyDeleteIf we did more real journalism, the type that stands to offend somebody, we would be better papers and more people would read us.
Trouble is we only do journalism some of the time. We're all too happy to publish the salaries of public employees because the government is an easy target. I doubt we would publish the salaries of local business owners and CEOs even if that information was public record. Why? That would REALLY cost us some money.
In other words, the database wasn't wrong. Our selective adherence to journalistic standards is.
Putting this into real perspective...
ReplyDeleteIF the rumors of a second week-long furlough and a one-week pay reduction are accurate, when added to the first-quarter furlough, that amounts to three weeks without pay - or a 5.8 percent pay cut over last year.
5:22 pm: Highly speculative scenario; however, candudates might start with:
ReplyDelete* Director Neal Shapiro, as executive chairman, if he could be persuaded to quit his current post at WNET-TV in New York City.
* Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore as interim CEO. Possibly, paired with newspaper division chief Bob Dickey, maybe as an interim chief operations officer.
5:38 The one week furlough and the one week temporary pay cut are supposedly (according to rumors) being lumped into only one quarter -- Q2.
ReplyDeleteWho is going to be exempted from the furloughs this time around. I can alrady hear the special pleading about needs in Detroit, etc., that will lead to exemptions. Layoffs on top of furloughs and temporary week pay suspensions are going to be the last blow. They just cannot continue to treat employees this way.
ReplyDelete5:38 You are not reading correctly what is happening. The one-week furlough is being made permanent through the year, which means one week furlough in every quarter, or four weeks of furloughs. Plus the one week temporary pay suspension, which is a 5th week. That just takes us through June. By then, I suspect they will want to continue the one week pay suspension in the 3rd and 4th quarter because you and I know this economy isn't improving. By my calculator that means 7 weeks of lost pay, compared to last year. I wait to hear if there are to be any hardship exemptions, etc.
ReplyDeleteHow does this "pay suspension" work? I think I have an idea about what it means but would like someone to spell it out in easy terms.
ReplyDeleteYo 5:18, who cares. I'd rather be working and receive cuts than being unemployed, period. You can bitch all you want, but you are working. There are many people who would trade with you in a heartbeat. How about a reality check. People are getting laid off by the millions. a 13% pay cut ... come and get it. At least I am still working.
ReplyDeleteNow you can go back to your whining.
If they honestly expect a week of work for no pay, they better have every bigwig in the building on the pressline. I anticipate we will have a lot of press problems that week, and what papers do get out are going to look like shit. As for furloughs, I'll take the extra time off all day. But work for no pay? Better call press maintenance...
ReplyDeleteNo matter which, if any, of these furlough/pay cut/layoff rumors are true, I pose one question: Where is the outrage over management bonuses? I know for a fact that high-level editors and managers at my paper recently received huge annual bonuses (in the thousands of dollars). Aren't we the company that just laid off thousands, that forced furloughs on struggling workers, and is looking at even more of the same. How can Gannett give these bonuses??!! Ethically OR financially?!!
ReplyDelete6:09 I see what your saying, but some of use live to higher standards then just being complaisant.
ReplyDeleteAs long as these corporate pigs are in charge there will always be those like you which are happy to just be patted on the head.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRemoved that one because rape is not funny.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the late March boycott or walkout that was talked about in this forum earlier this month? I forget the planned target date. Is it still on or has it withered on the vine?
ReplyDeleteAAAHHHHHBULSHIT!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf the econonmy keeps crumbling as it has been for the last six months what will be the proposal we will hear about in May. Will it be a week of furlough and two weeks of pay forgiveness? Plus, we have not yet heard the layoff plans, which I suspect are going to be very severe. This sounds like the old Chinese torture of death by a thousand cuts. If we are this bad off, then it is time for a complete reexamination of what GCI is doing, or filing for bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteI'd much rather take a second furlough week that a pat reduction.
ReplyDelete1) It gets me out of the office and away from the stress.
2) A pay cut would reduce my unemployment checks collected during a furlough, hence hitting my wallet even more.
The outrageous bonuses were a joke all week in my office. When we bury the story about more furloughs this week, I hope the news writer that does the story also asks our managers about the bonuses they received.
Who am I kidding though. That would be real impartial journalism that could offend someone.
I'd much rather take a second furlough week than a pay reduction.
ReplyDelete1) It gets me out of the office and away from the stress.
2) A pay cut would reduce my unemployment checks collected during a furlough, hence hitting my wallet even more.
The outrageous bonuses were a joke all week in my office. When we bury the story about more furloughs this week, I hope the news writer that does the story also asks our managers about the bonuses they received.
Who am I kidding though. That would be real impartial journalism that could offend someone.
Here's the plan for next year:
ReplyDeleteAll employees will be charged a fee for the privilege of working for Gannett.
It will be called the
Give the
Company
Income
So
U can
eXcel
plan.
I have a co-workera who loves to come to this site. He writes as if he is a Rhodes Scholar. All leaders are stupid and he is the smartest human in the world. He has a Nazi flag in his living room, sends hate mail to the paper every time we run a story about dogs, yes dogs, he hasn't washed his hair in a decade, He drives around in a beater, and he talks to himself when he walks down the hallway but when it comes to running a business, he is smarter than everyone he works with. My point; everyone is beautiful and smart online. Yet I haven't heard one good idea come out of his mouth.
ReplyDeletepayroll reduction - I guess the key word is reduction - every one gets a pay cut for that week, not a pay elimination - slavery is unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteAnon@4:38: The Tennessean may be getting its NCAA coverage from Knoxville, Memphis and/or Chattanooga. Don't forget that those 4 papers now share content.
ReplyDeleteThe SEC tournament was in Tampa, which might be on the pricey side as far as sending staffers.
Perhaps one-week wage reduction means choosing the lowest STATE minimum wage, then applying that to everyone on an hourly basis?
ReplyDeleteTomorrow companywide furloughs will be announced. Each division will have hybrid approaches combining furloughs and pay freezes but in general, hourly employees will take 3 furlough days in Q2, all others one week, and VP's one week furlough plus another week representing a weeks paycut. All brought to us by the master beancounter, Martore. Sure, the division heads will make announcements to their groups but rest assured this is Martore's "vision". It's too bad that Dubow needed her when he was appointed ceo. She's run more great talent away from corporate staff than anyone dare admit, especially in the finance department where she reigns supreme. She's arguably one of the worst managers to have ever ascended the Gannett ladder. Although she's bright and hardworking she has a penchant for grandstanding; being abusive to direct reports, and micro-managing everything to the point of near paralysis. No one dare complain since she's #2 in the company and Dubow seems to have handed her all the keys to the castle. But what operation has she ever run? She never managed a finance dept in the field so she doesn't have a clue what it means to motivate staff, build readership or viewers, or attract advertisers. Dubow has handed her far too much power, and the board has been completely bamboozled about her effectiveness. For those in uscp and broadcast who don't have to get things done under her leadership, consider yourselves fortunate. The poor people in finance are doomed to work for an ego maniac who's never wrong and who has to be the smartest person in the room at all times. Nickles and dimes are her specialty - period. She shouldn't be responsible for anyones livelihood, and certainly not granted the carte blanche authority she has over this company. Had the board been smart enough to retain Tom Curley, we'd have a ceo who was really running the company and knew the business and who would have been strong enough to control Martore. Or, she would have resigned and taken her poison somewhere else, just as good.
ReplyDeleteSo get ready for Furlough Round II, brought to you by a really nice ceo hiding behind a shrew of a cfo.
5:43 and 5:55,
ReplyDeleteI don't care what quarter it's in - that doesn't matter to my bottom line. I'm talking about the whole year. And please don't think that I'm trying to downplay it - 5.8 percent will be a huge hit from my paycheck-to-paycheck household budget.
Nor did I take 12:48's or Jim's comments to read that we're going to have one furlough week every quarter. That's news to me. What's your source?
- 5:38
Few of us know for sure, but I'd bet that a one week pay reduction is just that -- cut the pay rate by 1/52 or 1.9 percent. The term is the big unknown. Is it for the quarter, balance of the year, forever?
ReplyDeleteThree furlough days for hourly workers in Q2 shave off another 1.15 percent from the total year's income.
Working more for less.
5:38 Yes, I know the rumor is that this two week pay reduction will only be for one quarter. I seem to recall the current one week reduction was only going to last this quarter, too. If you think that corporate is going to develop a money-saving device and then abandon it by the 3rd quarter, I don't know what there is I can do to help you. They are developing plans to reduce our pay permanently. I'll wait for details on how the temporary one-week pay reduction will work.
ReplyDeleteTo Jim's point at 8:02 -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm
Wouldn't surprise me if "pay reduction" means one week of working at minimum wage, whatever that may be in your state.
How many sick days do we get??? .....
Furlough furor: OK already, it's hell to get pay cuts.
ReplyDeleteBut for those of us who had JOB CUTS, may I remind you that having a JOB beats living on the dole any day of the week. It shocks me that people in the news business don't pay attention to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are out on their keisters, trying to find jobs in a suck-o economy, and that so long as more people become unemployed, the economic situation in this country is going to continue to deteroriate because unemployed people cannot BUY goods and services that provide revenue in the first place. I'm counting on all your workers out there to get your asses in gear and do something about this situation, getting the courage to challenge these infernal so-called cost-cutting measures because yes, it looks like they will continue until the cows come home. Use your noggins and figure it out. We journalists who were thrown out are counting on you now to save this industry.
I have enormous empathy for thos of you dreading the future. It's like being told someone in the room has cancer but they can't get treatment until the boss makes the announcement.
But unemployed people worry about their homes, their children, their spouses, their health, and yes, their own sanity, day in and day out. Because we are living on the margins now, and it ain't a pretty place.
Good news: I just learned that all employees will receive a one-week, 30 percent raise, but it will only apply to the week you are on furlough.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you business writers can answer this: Aren't we approaching the point at which the company is worth more in pieces than as a single entity? Doesn't this make it ripe for a hostile takeover?
ReplyDeleteAnother site:
ReplyDeletehttp://compensation.blr.com/display.cfm/id/156333
"Initially, you must ensure that after the reduction, exempt workers still earn the federal minimum of $455 a week to protect their status."
re: payroll reductions--
ReplyDeletecan they just cut out a week of pay from each employee's Q2 earnings and make each paycheck smaller over the course of the quarter? like actually take away that week of pay but spread it out? is that legal? that's what I took it to mean--I may be way off here. Anyone have any insight?
Jim-thanks for all the info. It's terrible that I have to come here to find out what to expect at work every day, but I sure am grateful for it. Check is in the mail.
9:23 Yes, this has been noted from time to time as the value of the stock has cratered. Jim also quite astutely noted new provisions in the proxy statement involving protections for the Crystal Towers if someone corners 20 percent of the stock. You would not have to buy all of the stock, just a sufficient number to control the election of board of directors. Then you could direct the execs to sell off properties. TV propertiees would probably bring good prices still. I would estimate it would take from $25 million to $40 million to do this. Why hasn't this happened? There isn't much of a market for newspapers these days, and the general economic collapse has not finished. Once there is a sign that the bottom has been found and the economy shows signs of coming back to life, it might happen.
ReplyDeleteRumor at my place is the furlough extension and week temporary wage withdrawal will be followed next month by more layoffs and massive consolidations.
ReplyDelete6:17 p.m. "If they honestly expect a week of work for no pay, they better have every bigwig in the building on the pressline."
ReplyDeleteMy god, that we're even talking about 'presslines' is disturbing.
Print is so dead, and it's alternately boring and enraging to read about journalists talking about it.
No ONE cares how many picas separate a story from a headline, or the width of a line.
That's why we're dying.
It's like talking about telegrams 10 years after the telephone took off.
So, should we get out or stay? What is the right move? Editorships in question? What potential for advancement is there? Who should we follow? Exit strategy: Develop one. We've seen good people leave the company. Will the good ones stay?
ReplyDeleteI have a tremendously warm feeling for all of you and this talk of furloughs - op sorry just peed myself.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have is what is going to be left after this round of cutbacks is done. The cuts they have made are already visible in the paper, and readers know. More cuts and this daily miracle just won't come out.
ReplyDeleteSo they are going to tell us they want us to take another week off without pay and then work for one week without pay? Is it legal to tell employees to work for a week without pay? If so, are any of you really going to do any real work during that week? It becomes even more unbelievable that these fat fucks gave themselves bonuses and announced it publicly last week. These are truly people who only care about lining their own pockets at the expense of the people that earn it for them.
ReplyDeleteBelieve you me, if it was up to them, they wouldn't have "announced" a damn thing.
ReplyDeleteChalk up one for regulation!
Federal labor law says that if you work, you have to be paid. So I will wait to see how GCI plans to get around this law with a "temporary" payroll deduction. I think we would also have a great legal case of corporate executives pocketing bonuses from money saved from the rank and file's paychecks. Such a lawsuit would result in disclosure of the whole empire of bonuses, including the $40,000 bonus given to the top editor here.
ReplyDelete12:48 - Honolulu won't be closed. They still own a 4 year old, $82 million press, and they are going w/the 44-inch cutdown on Monday. But Gannett may sell it if it's losing money and get out of Hawaii. Lee Webber and his OC have no clue on what's going on in the islands.
ReplyDeletejim,
ReplyDeleteIf they do a pay reduction does gannett have to give each employee a certain notice, like 30 days?
Keep up the good work...
Some very good comments here by posters - those thankful about having any job at all in these times, the continued outrage at the bonuses our clueless board of directors handed to our even more cluless executives,the insiderish stuff on CFO Matore's dictatorial style. And for once, I noticed a diminishment in the back biting and attacks among posters. Thank you everyone.
ReplyDelete1:19, this is what the VA labor page says:
ReplyDeleteCan an employer reduce an employee's rate of pay?
Yes; an employer can reduce an employee's rate of pay provided the reduction does not bring an employee's wage below the applicable federal or state minimum wage. Also, an employer must notify the affected employee prior to his being allowed or required to perform work at the reduced rate; the employee has the right to accept the lower rate or quit.
No length of time between notice and reduced pay is specified. So they could e-mail us their plans today and start paying us less immediately.