Fur-lough, Fur-lough
It's off from work we go
They took our pay
And said Go Play
Fur-lough, Fur-lough
Fur-lough, Fur-lough, Fur-lough
It's off from work we go
We'll have no bucks
And boy that sucks
Fur-lough, Fur-lough
Fur-lough, Fur-lough, Fur-lough
It's off to work we go
It's sad we are broke
But we're Gannett folk
Fur-lough, Fur-lough
-- Anonymous@6:47 p.m., commenting on Bob Dickey's memo about mandatory furloughs, said: "Here is a song that I wrote."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
6 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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Me likey! :D
ReplyDeleteThis situation has knocked all positivity out of me.
ReplyDeleteAre any of your sites reporting on Gannett furloughs? Don't know if your site is like mine, but anytime any local employer announces layoffs or furloughs, it gets the front-page treatment on our Web site. But I've seen no mention of our layoffs anywhere. If company X employs 500 people and it's news when some of their jobs go away or get furloughed, shouldn't it be the same when Gannett Site Y, which employs about that many people, has layoffs or furloughs? Local news is local news ... right?
ReplyDeleteThat is too funny! And coincidental: Last night I had a nightmare about being laid off, complete with its own soundtrack -- Night on Bald Mountain. I kid you not!
ReplyDeleteHow weird is that?
This from Eric Sass of Media Daily News:
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a new trend in the beleaguered newspaper industry: cutting costs through unpaid furloughs. On Wednesday, Gannett said it will require thousands of employees to take a week off without pay--the only option left for reducing expenditures without more layoffs. The news comes less than a month after The Seattle Times asked approximately 500 of its non-unionized employees to take a week's unpaid leave. However, newspaper publishers are still kicking: The Chicago Tribune launched a tabloid version.
Gannett did not specify how many employees would be asked to take unpaid leave--but Craig A. Dubow, Gannett's chairman, president, and CEO, wrote in a memo to employees that "most of our U.S. employees--including myself and all other top executives--will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter." The company is asking unionized employees to participate, but it can't force them.
It's unclear how a company built on publishing daily newspapers can take a week off and still produce up-to-date content--but it's quite clear that management feels it has no other choice. This stopgap measure indicates that Gannett believes it has cut staff to the bone, reaching a bare minimum under which the business may no longer be able to operate.
Indeed, Gannett has cut about one-third of its newspaper divisions in the last decade, from 41,000 in 2000 to around 29,000 or less today. The vast majority of these were cut in the last two years, including almost 5,000 in 2007 and 4,000 or more in 2008.
There's more at:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=98381&Nid=51230&p=993392
This is a stupid move by Gannett. They have layed off and cut back not to the bone, but deep into it. Now they think they will save money by furloughing it's employees and dump those positions workload again on thier already overwoked and underpaid staff. All that will result is a comprimised product and loads of overtime.
ReplyDeleteOverworked enviroments cause stress and errors and low moral, which couldn't go much lower.
Publishers and managment and corporate high paid employees can more afford a loss of wages then hourly already struggling employees. The CEO's 8 million annual compensation could cover many of those furloughed positions.
Does he really need it? He's probably racked up 50 million in his tenure.
These selfish, greedy, uncompasonate people are the reason this country is in the shape it is in.