Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sunday | May 17 | Your News & Comments
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44 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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Letter from senior managment to all employees... due to economic slow down...
ReplyDeleteDear Employess,
Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of the economy, managemant has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years of age and above an early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People early).
Persons selected to be Raped can apply to management to be eligible for SHAFT (Special Help After Forced Termination). Persons who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW program (Scheme Covering Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as Management deems appropriate.
Persons who have been RAPED can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependents & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personal Early Severence). Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by management.
Persons who are not RAPED and are staying will recieve as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Managemant has always prided itself on the amount of SHIT it gives employess. Should you feel that you do not recieve enough SHIT, please bring it to the attention of your Supervisor. They have been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle.
Sincerely,
The Management
What happened at the CNY unionization meeting Saturday? Was it rained out? Did Sherm send spies?
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening at the Arizona Republic (through azcentral.com) sure seems like a violation of wage and hour laws.
ReplyDeleteAzcentral is looking for employees to review restaurants for free. This is the text from the poster: "azcentral.com wants to know what you think of the Valley's restaurants, events, attractions and more. Write 5 brief reviews (no less than 75 words) sharing your experiences and recommendations to receive 2 Harkins movie tickets."
The poster then gives instructions on how to post these ersatz reviews to azcentral and instructs the faux critics to email a person at azcentral to receive their tickets. (I've withheld the email address of the azcentral person.)
How is this is not being asked to work for free?
No more Furloughs...Just a 5% paycut across the board....
ReplyDelete5/16/2009 5:26 PM
Not the 20% I heard?
5/16/2009 8:55 PM
SO WHAT'S THIS ABOUT??????
Because it's "volunteer." Plus, you get free movie tickets!
ReplyDelete12:16 AM---That is funny !!! Brilliant !
ReplyDeleteIs there any validity to the June lay-off?
ReplyDelete8:52 Stay tuned. The decisions by GM and Chrysler to terminate some dealer franchises is having reverberations across the company, because it means no more car ads in affected communities. Adjustments will have to be made. Also ad revenues are not picking up, so we are hardly out of the woods yet. If we are looking at more revenue declines, then hold your hats because layoffs will be a certainty.
ReplyDeleteGannett has treated most workers over 50 like crap for at least three decades. It's no different at USA Today than it is at the smallest community papers. Probably why you don't see Gannett ever winning any prizes for "best place to work" or any kudos from organizations like AARP. At around 40, you need to begin to have an exit strategy, which really is an awful shame. Unbelievably, it's only getting worse as time goes on. Anyone have any idea what the percentage of people over 40 was in the December layoffs? I bet it was over 60 or 70 percent. Four out of the five folks I know who got laid off were over 45. How does this company get away with this?
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time your shop actually hired someone over 45?
Seems like experience means nothing in this company. And loyalty? Forget about it! Doesn't exist for most of us at this company. Therefore, you will see workers beginning to fight back in their own ways, knowing this company and these managers do not have their backs.
The management team is in disarray.
ReplyDeleteFirst Craig Moon gets fired by Dubow. Next Kurt Wimmer the top Gannett lawyer and member of the GMC quits to go back into private practice.
Now the US Community Newspaper is talking about another round of lay offs in the range of 3,000 to 4,500 employees. In addition, Gannett will announce a 7.5% salary reduction for all employees including unions.
And now there is talk about Mr. Dubow taking a leave of absence for several months to take care of a medical issue.
If you didn't think Google was no threat to USA TODAY, take a look at the latest from their experimental labs:
ReplyDeletehttp://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/
It may be volunteer but you're still creating product for your employer off the time clock.
ReplyDeleteHow is it different from working unpaid O.T.? You may "volunteer" to do it, but really, if you want to keep your job and your boss asks you to do it, what are you going to do?
Whoa!!
ReplyDeleteThe management team is in disarray.
First Craig Moon gets fired by Dubow. Next Kurt Wimmer the top Gannett lawyer and member of the GMC quits to go back into private practice.
Now the US Community Newspaper is talking about another round of lay offs in the range of 3,000 to 4,500 employees. In addition, Gannett will announce a 7.5% salary reduction for all employees including unions.
And now there is talk about Mr. Dubow taking a leave of absence for several months to take care of a medical issue.
So what if Dubow takes a leave of absence? Gracia runs the company so nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteNo more Furloughs...Just a 5% paycut across the board....
ReplyDelete5/16/2009 5:26 PM
Not the 20% I heard?
Well if any of the above happens, Gannett might as well finish cutting off there heads,Because the workers have had enough and this would just push them beyond the breaking point,especially for a company thats still showing a profit....
I also think the if the car companys do go belly up, then the dealers are going to have to advertise to let people know that there still out there
1:29am. So what. The Republic launched user review of restaurants and they are trying to jump start the process by having employees provide reviews of user restaurants and bars. You are trying to make something out of nothing.
ReplyDeleteThis is Fun with a capital F! We have some awesome rumors making their way around here. I'm excited to be a part of history!
ReplyDeleteWhat will be it?
20% pay cuts, 7.5% pay cuts, 10% pay cuts?
Will the newspaper division five up triple what they gave up the "round of layoffs?"
Does CD have some major illness like Apple's Job and will we be leaderless and GM need to step in to right the ship?
Is it true that Tom Curley is returning to be CEO?
Was CM really fired?
Is USA TODAY being purchased by Google?
Did I miss anything?
Someone asked about the APP/CN/HNT regional desk setup. It's a joke. Everyone's working out of Neptune now but the division of product and employees of those products remains.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they do a 5% pay cut? If we have 2 more furloughs, that will be a 9+% pay cut.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe anything over a 5% pay cut. I can't afford it, but if they demand more, I'll be laying Gannett off. Notice? Oh about 30 seconds after I receive the email on the pay cuts. I've always wanted to open a business, never had the guts. I'm sick of this f'ing company!
If just half of these rumors turn out to be true, this company will have bought itself a one way ticket to implosion.
ReplyDeleteWhy would they do a 5% pay cut? If we have 2 more furloughs, that will be a 9+% pay cut.
ReplyDelete5/17/2009 12:57 PM
Check your math. A furlough is worth 1.92% (1/52). 4 furloughs means a 7.69% cut.
Maybe we'll get a 50% pay cut. Maybe no pay cut - how about that? Anything you hear around this place is just BS. Fuel those fears baby, fuel those fears!
8:52 Stay tuned. The decisions by GM and Chrysler to terminate some dealer franchises is having reverberations across the company, because it means no more car ads in affected communities. Wrote 5/17/2009 9:39 AM
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is going to come to pass. I think our-of-town car dealers, the ones that are still in business, will advertise just as much because they want the people who don't have a local dealership any longer to come to them for parts, service and new/used cars.
Also, amazingly, Wal-Mart is putting inserts in my Sunday paper again, something that was only a sometimes thing after the initial big advertising barrage when a new store went in.
Not all advertising avenues have been cut off.
Re: 12:16PM
ReplyDeleteIf you "provide" reviews (content) for your employer's web site or newspaper you are working for free and the employer is violating wage & hour laws. It's really pretty simple. Newspapers, the bigger ones anyhow, have restaurant and arts critics who are PAID to provide reviews. Expecting or asking employees to do so for free is bogus.
Thanks for the information but I hope you are not right this time — even though you have been correct in the past.
ReplyDeleteI know there will a company wide meeting for our site in early June. This could be when they will announce the coming changes.
The management team is in disarray.
First Craig Moon gets fired by Dubow. Next Kurt Wimmer the top Gannett lawyer and member of the GMC quits to go back into private practice.
Now the US Community Newspaper is talking about another round of lay offs in the range of 3,000 to 4,500 employees. In addition, Gannett will announce a 7.5% salary reduction for all employees including unions.
And now there is talk about Mr. Dubow taking a leave of absence for several months to take care of a medical issue.
5/17/2009 10:36 AM
Just noticed the Asbury Park Press sports page reads "Sports Editor: Jack Genung".
ReplyDeleteSo I googled it and found college sports beat writer Jerry Carrino mentioned it was happening here:
http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/hoopshaven/2009/04/09/odds-and-ends-4/
So what happened to the young guy, Kevin Steimle?
I'll be shocked to see any more large layoffs. While furloughs every quarter is not a sensible business model, I don't think they want to any more mass layoffs due to the pressure and anger it creates.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the people I know working for Gannett properties have their heads in the sand and seem to think that things will get better and that their jobs are fine. I'm not convinced that Gannett will be any better off once this recession is over.
I've even heard that newsrooms in some of the hardest hit states have been hiring recently. See: All will be fine. Yeah, right!
The bottomline is that there is a HUGE debt payment coming due. Advertising is very weak.
I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see the asteroid on Gannett's horizon.
I suspect that Gannett will wait until the late fall to do any more mass layoffs and the number will probably be more like 25 percent of FTE.
I strongly think that this company is clearly headed toward bankruptcy in 2010.
You'll be having fun in June when they announce at the company meeting what changes they have in store for you. I think Gannett is for once, trying to be honest and let people know what is going on. Maybe their monitoring of this blog has paid off, even in a small way. That's the way it should be. They should be honest and upfront, even if the truth hurts. It's better than being in the dark about our futures.
ReplyDeleteThis is Fun with a capital F! We have some awesome rumors making their way around here. I'm excited to be a part of history!
From Ashvegas.squarespace.com:
ReplyDeleteThe Asheville Citizen-Times on Friday disabled its Topix commenting system on the stories it posts to its Web site. The anonymous message boards were mostly a continuous stream of gutter-worthy bile, which I've railed against pretty much non-stop since I left the newspaper. When I worked at the newspaper, almost everyone in the newsroom hated the message boards too, but the top management basically shrugged it off, saying that's the way it is.
With handles like Sgt. Rock and Lokel, the commenters fragged everyone from Susan Reinhardt to anyone of Hispanic descent. They were obscene. They were nasty to one another. It was occasionally mildly entertaining, and every now and then, a commenter offered a solid story tip or lead. Mostly, though, it was trash.
By cutting off the Topix comments, the Citizen-Times has certainly taken a hit on web site clicks. Some stories would get hundreds of comments. That's got to hurt, because page clicks translate to ad dollars.
The Citizen-Times still has a commenting system on its stories, but you have to register with an e-mail address. I guess that means the newspaper can track you down now, whereas before, there was no email requirement.
I noticed that Topix commenting is still enabled on the newspaper's Take 5 entertainment stories. I wonder why.
I also noticed that the newspaper has also begun splitting its stories into multiple pages, requiring you to click four or five times to read one story. That is annoying, to say the least, and looks like a way to make up for page views lost by doing away with the Topix comments.
As usual, the Citizen-Times has made no public statement on the major change to the interactivity of a web site that gets tens of thousands of views. Barring any explanation, we'll just have to keep watching and draw our own conclusions as to why the newspaper made the change.
I'll hold my breath waiting for the supposed mass exodus from all the people who say they will walk if a pay cut is instituted. Whatever. You people will never leave. You'll just stick around and take more beatings. Trust me.
ReplyDeleteMy Boss,
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that Dubow is having some major surgery and will be out of Gannett for a few months. He has been seen walking around with a cane and seems really fragile.
My bosses, bosses, boss is a member of the GMC and he said last week at our OG meeting that Dubow will be "out of the office for months and that they will be making an announcement shortly".
What's this someone was saying above about Curley coming back to replace CD?
ReplyDeleteCM retired. Kurt left for more $. Why spread rumors?
ReplyDeleteJim, your readers might be interested in this story from Crain's Detroit Business:
ReplyDeleteDetroit News, Free Press will eliminate 150 positions
By Bill Shea
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, along with the partnership that manages their joint business operations, are expected to shed up to 150 jobs as a cost-cutting measure.
There’s no timeline yet on the reductions and the unions for the editorial, production, delivery and custodial employees have not yet been informed of any layoffs.
The cuts are unrelated to the home delivery reductions of both newspapers, and instead stem from the industry-wide downturn in advertising revenue, said Rich Harshbarger, the Detroit Media Partnership’s vice president of consumer marketing.
An analysis is under way to determine where money can be saved, and what positions might be eliminated, Harshbarger said.
Employees were told of the looming cuts during staff meetings last week to discuss the newspapers’ business plans.
The partnership and newspapers have, combined, about 1,900 employees.
Buyouts aren’t believed to be on the table for this round of cutbacks. In 2007 and 2008, about 230 employees took buyouts across the two newspapers and the partnership.
I guess Karma has finally hit. When you fuck around with people's job and life, surgery is what you will get. Pray hard that you survive the surgery and hopefully make you a better CEO with better understanding of the people in the lower rung rather then fucking with their lives!
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't a cane Dubow had it was his putter you morons. He's taking a couple weeks off to get ready for the US Open and British Open with Bob Dickey.
ReplyDeleteBesides the only surgery he would need was a cranium-dectory from the rectum. I'm sure most would agree..
And you morons are even bigger morons if anything this company does surprises you anymore....my boss said has pretty damn good aim at the can...if he/she says something its a pretty damn good idea to atleast consider it...before ranting, there is no way Gannett would do that!...wake the hell up.
ReplyDeleteWhat difference does it make if Dubow is in or not? Martore is the master puppeteer pulling all the strings.
ReplyDeleteDubow has back problems and is probably going in for some major surgery.
ReplyDeleteMoon did not get fired. He left of his own accord, rather than stick around and butt heads with his boss. If the economic climate was better, a lot of people in the company would be well advised to follow his lead.
Heard at the CNY unionization meeting that Sherm had spies dressed as 40 something know-it alls in burlington coat factory suits to fit in with the angry dozens at the meeting....others were disguised as newspaper carriers as not to arise suspicion.
ReplyDeleteAnd I heard the Ad Director was walking her dog and ended up overhearing the meeting by chance, but since she was still on furlough the information could not legally be admissible to Gannett.
Re: 7:26
ReplyDeleteYou may be right when it comes to some people, but for me, a pay cut would be the last straw. I would not be foolish enough to immediately walk out the door (I am single and would rather have an income than not), but I would indeed step up my job-hunting and networking efforts. I would leave. Not that day, maybe not even that month, but as soon as possible.
11:55, you've already had a pay cut. What do you think 2 furloughs are? Is your resume being circulated right now? If not, I rest my case.
ReplyDeleteWhat they decide to do to the staff won't cause this company to implode because there will always be too many of those who are scared and just stay for one reason or another. If you were to leave, you would be a definite minority overall. In any case, stupid business decisions and always playing catch-up is what will ultimately doom this company. Once they start charging for their web sites, get ready to watch the bricks fall one by one. It's even too late for that.
5/17/2009 1:17 PM
ReplyDeleteOpps... You're right on the 7.6% My bad. Now, how in the hell did I come up with 9.2%?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteFinally, we are back to the reasons this blog started. Thank you My Boss for your information. You got the ball rolling again.
ReplyDeleteDubow has back problems and is probably going in for some major surgery.
Moon did not get fired. He left of his own accord, rather than stick around and butt heads with his boss. If the economic climate was better, a lot of people in the company would be well advised to follow his lead.