Newspaper employees are applying for buyouts this week -- in some cases, hoping to take a bullet for a co-worker who can't lose their job in the upcoming 10% workforce reduction. Buyout benefits are the same as those for employees getting laid off: one week's pay for every year's service, with a 26-week maximum.
How many co-workers in your department have applied? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
17 comments:
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I would have volunteered for the layoff, but was told by H.R. that I might not qualify for unemployment if I did. I bet that cut into the potential voluntary numbers a bit.
ReplyDeleteNot enough, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteNone, to be exact.
We're losing more than 10 percent at our Midwestern daily (I can't afford to identify it more than that).
We're going to get screwed -- we have some contract complications that mean we'll likely take out our best because we have a staff made up of too many incompetents in protected classes (yes, you can read this one as old, although they weren't good when they were younger, either, so no need to make this an age issue).
On top of it, our top management has refused to deal with this problem for so long and can't possibly have the guts now to take out those in protected classes.
Our editor is worried about his legacy, which he doesn't realize already is a joke. (He's one of those 'my newspaper' guys.)
Here's the only funny (gallows humor) part of it: The capable people he doesn't touch are going to leave anyway if he takes out the wheat instead of the chaff, and the remaining employees who can't hack it are gone soon anyway to retirement, and probably faster once they're asked to actually work.
That's one hell of a legacy.
But then, it is 'his' newspaper. He gets what he deserves.
i know of 1 or 2 in editorial at "my" midwestern daily, but there are few people left who've been there long enough they can afford to escape. those who could left already. my ad contacts left in the "good" buyout.
ReplyDeleteand i've got an ee a lot like the previous commenter's. it would have been a lot better for "his" newspaper if he'd protected "his" people in better days.
some who might otherwise leave don't want to lose the cola or 9% 401k contribution for long-term employees that resulted from the freeze. if they could leave jan 2, they might have taken it.
and i second 1:52 -- we'll also lose good people who will refuse to do two jobs for one check the minute we can find something else. almost anything else.
Word is that there are at least 3 who've "volunteered" to be shot at Cherry HIll. One in advertising sales and two in the editorial department.
ReplyDeleteWith so much backstabbing going on to keep jobs I can't help but wonder just how many presently employed Gannetteers are actually willing to step up, paint a target on their chests and become unemployed to "help their less fortunate" brothers or sisters in this time of crisis. I mean, surely they're aware of just how thin the job market is now and slim the chances are of becoming hired in their chosen profession.
ReplyDeleteIt all sound so admirable in print but in actuality?
When I was laid off in the first round of cutbacks, and believe me I was in a position where losing my job was catastrophic, they kept husband and wife employees even though admittedly the wife said the husband made "tons" of money! (
Perhaps I'm blind to the backstabbing and ass kissing, but I see NONE of that at the C-J Louisville. Maybe it's going on in other departments.
ReplyDeleteI second 10:14 a.m. There's a lot of concern throughout the building, but at least in the newsroom, where I work, I don't see people behaving differently toward their bosses. There's a lot of fatalism and gallows humor, but that's how journalists always deal with this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteJust think of how the crew felt on the Titanic? Same thing.
ReplyDeleteBut, gallantly, the band kept playing till the ice cold water hit their........well, you saw the movie.
Editorial should take the biggest hits next week. The real shame is that Gannett's severence package keeps getting weaker.
1:01 AM.... Voluntary buyouts and qualification for unemployment have been a condtsnt subject on this site. It seems to depend on what state you from.
ReplyDeleteIn the much-criticized NJ Group, it appears definite that you can collect once your severance runs out!
Management in Westchester can't give an answer on the question of unemployment. No way to know.
ReplyDeleteIf you have not been mistreated by management at the C-J, consider yourself lucky. You obviously have been oblivious to editors who screamed at reporters. Look at the way some past editorial reductions there were implemented. People were not stabbed, they were screwed.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for this blog people in Louisville probably wouldn't have known about the impending layoffs. The managers and supervisors there sure aren't talking about them.
ReplyDeletePeople you are not resigning if you volunteer. You are volunteering to be put on the "Consideration" list. If you get layed off the company layed you off. You did not quit. You di dnot resign. When you go to unemployment you tell them you were layed off. Period!You don't tell a long story about volunteerin for anything. You were layed off.
ReplyDeleteI'm on my way out too... took the mark 6 minutes to deadline.. whew.... here's a laugh.
ReplyDeleteWho's In Charge?
All the organs of the body were having a meeting, trying to decide who was in charge. "I should be in charge" said the Brain, "because I run all the body's systems, so without me nothing would happen".
"I should be in charge" said the Blood, "because I circulate oxygen all over, so without me you'd all waste away". "I should be in charge" said the Stomach, "because I process food and give you all energy".
"I should be in charge", said the Rectum, "because I'm responsible
for waste removal". All the other body parts laughed at the rectum and insulted him, so in a huff, he shut down tight.
Within a few days, the brain had a terrible headache, the stomach was bloated, and the blood was toxic. Eventually the other organs gave in. They all agreed that the rectum should be the boss.
The moral of the story?
You don't have to be smart or important to be in charge... just an asshole.
Oh... one more for your enjoyment. :)
ReplyDeleteMonkeys
IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR VIEWPOINT
Life at work is like a tree full of monkeys, all on different limbs at different levels.
Some of the monkeys are climbing up, some down.
The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces.
The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but assholes.
5:35 pm – not true. We first learned of the layoffs in the meeting with Dubow and Dickey. I still believe they were at least being honest with us instead of hiding it and just laying people off with no prior notice.
ReplyDelete5:35 PM - If Loiusville is like my site, the reason managers and supervisors are not talking about the layoffs is simple -- They know as much as you! As a manager, at a different site, I have not been asked for input or told how many of my staff will be let go, if any.
ReplyDeleteSo, the question is, how in the hell are the deciding who goes and who stays?