Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday | Jan. 19 | Got news, or a question?
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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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I'm suddenly working on a project again! So, I've got some catching up to do. This project DOES NOT concern any new layoffs or other bad news like that.
ReplyDeleteBut -- assuming it holds up -- this story is one of the more amazing tales I've run across in a long time.
oooh fun!
ReplyDeleteWhen should we expect to see it? Any FOIA costs, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI need to publish this story ASAP. I've been slowed a little because it's on a topic -- sports -- that I don't know much about.
ReplyDeleteBut I've gotten a lot of the basic research out of the way, so things are looking good. I've even got my photos, maps and other artwork line up.
In any case, it's an amazing story about how one top Gannett executive may be spending his unpaid furlough.
Of course, now that I think about it, my project could use what the newsroom once called "real people.'' Here's what I mean:
ReplyDeleteI need Gannett employees -- especially those living in cold-weather states -- to write comments in this thread, about how they feel about their job and financial security right now.
The sooner the better, please!
In Wisconsin, it's up to 8 degrees on the positive side of zero. Yesterday there were people driving with their windows open, after our -40 windchills last week.
ReplyDeleteI love my job. I like the people I work with. Most of our directors are long-term Wisconsinites and they know their markets and what works. I wish we had more flexibility in some areas, but you work with what you're given.
I feel terrible for the people who have lost their jobs, and I know there is a possibility that I could join them.
I've been able to plan ahead over the years. I'm netting the same amount of money I was ten years ago as all my raises were dumped into 401(k). I didn't buy as much house as I 'qualified' for, and both my vehicles are over ten years old and paid for. My credit card debt is only what I put in the tank this month. I've got about a month's safety net in the bank.
Granted, I have the boring life. I don't go to the tavern, to the islands, to the movies. But at the end of the week, my family has food to eat while others have fond memories of "Hotel for Dogs".
With the uncertainty at work, I have lowered the thermostat. Purchased more generic foodstuffs. Made my lunch. Avoided the vending machines. Driven slower. Given more to charity, 'cause karma can bite you in the ass. Christmas was low-key. With the furlough coming, I've told my kids not to worry (that's my job) but that they need to be concerned with not wasting anything.
I am worried. Our Sunday employment section and CareerBuilder is so thin in our area, should something happen it will take quite a while to find something new. But I think I've done everything I could to make it easier on my household, so my job now is to stay as valuable to my bosses as I can.
12:27 Yesterday said we(I) was whinning about UNPAID OVERTIME. Well assh*ole, I'm not whinning, I'm pissed because corporate has had it's cake and eaten too.
ReplyDeleteThere are CLEAR RULES for extra work in the God Damn Employee Manual that the legal & personnel F*cks wrote. I was told to fill out time sheets with 37.5 hours and in the next breath I was told I had to work 6 & 7 days -50-to-70 hours- a week to deliver the paper. Clear violation of the Manual and state and Federal Wage & Hour laws.
Over the years I did not want leave my co-workers in a jam if we needed extra work done and I also did want to be broke homeless and have to have female members suck di*k on the street corner for food money. Bob Collins -that intellectually & ethically defect insecure Patton wannabe- and Katen Ghandi had everyone ---up to senior managers--- pushing that exempt "Manager" status bullshit so they could get their financial bonuses.....while we worked our asses off. One superior I had actually said a part-timer couldn't get paid more because they were "exempt." Amazing.
I didn't mind working the extra time.....I minded NO BE THANKED OR PAID FOR IT. When I run my own business, I'll work every waking hour on it. But these schmucks are like fuedal lords expecting us serfs to do their bidding without question or complaint.
Since I have no future with Gannett anymone (i'm going to be outsourced) and I'm going to need food in a nuclear-winter of an economy, I'm going to ask for some (NO ALOT) of the money I'm due for the Phantom Work I've done.
Bottom line 12:27 Go Fu*k yourself
We can't compare with Wisconsin, but at 22 degrees, it feels positively balmy in New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteI used to love my job but now as everything's being centralized and regionalized I'm doing more cookie cutter projects that "worked great!" at another paper. I've seen many talented hardworking people let go. Yet there are dozens of people at my paper who skate by with a fiercely protected ignorance of email, the internet, our website, and post-1983 office mentality.
I think my position will go to Asbury Park or corporate within the year and I'll be let go. To that end, I'm feverishly trying to teach myself the skills that jobs outside Gannett are looking for. Years of working with old and/or proprietary software have stunted me.
Financially, I'm about average. I'm still dealing with credit card debt from my foolish younger years, but my car is paid off and my rent includes most utilities. Being laid off would be devastating to me emotionally but financially I can get by for about 3 months before things will start to slide.
Any more word on layoffs tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteJim
ReplyDeleteNJ here: 8:26 and employees piling in as we speak. The weather outside may not be as cold as most but it's not warm in here either. Our fearless leaders refuse to turn on the heat. Job security? How would you feel when it looks like they can't pay the cost of heat?
heh NJ what paper? its an iceberg at our plant
ReplyDeleteI worked for gannett for 14 years. It was stimulating work back in the day. food for thought. if you have or are working for them, you can work for anyone. once you work for the worst it's a pleasure working for the best.
ReplyDeleteIn Michigan, it's 10 degrees today. I'm one of the lucky ones who was exempt from the furloughs. We have, what I think, is a solid plan for 2009. But it's all based on revenues, of course. I personally feel safe in my newsroom job. During the layoffs, I've seen them eliminate individuals who didn't do as well. Personal finances are fine, as well. A couple months in the savings account, and my home is my only debt.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, worrying won't change how things work out professionally. I'll keep on doing what I can do for as long as I can.
I am in the Northeast and I am getting sick from anxiety at the prospect of being tossed out on my tail in this job market. I do all I can do to work hard and remain vital to the organization, but I saw way too many "indispensible'' folks go in the last round to have any illusions that I won't be next. I have children and maybe 5 mos. of savings and little debt but don't want to lose our home or worse. I would not be negative about this furlough if I thought it gave me job security for at least the next 6-9 months but I'm overwhelmed and exhausted from worrying about layoffs every 6 weeks or so. I will spend my unpaid vacation week sending out resumes because I see no other option.
ReplyDeleteNew Anchor Exempt??? Outrageous!
ReplyDeletehttp://newsanchorexemption.blogspot.com/
Had to speak my mind...thanks for having the venue available...will be making a contribution just as soon as possible!
POP QUIZ - Can you name one good to great manager who works for Gannett New Jersey??
ReplyDeleteIt's cold here in Ohio.
ReplyDeleteI am doing well financially after separating from the company six months ago.
It's not easy out there, to be sure.
I regularly talk to former colleagues/friends who are still employed with GCI.
They are unsure, skeptical, doubtful and plain scared about the future.
Some believe things will change; others say it's the downward spiral of a once-proud industry.
The problem is most of them have not planned for the future. I've never allowed myself to be hamstrung by one income. That's why I could walk away with no worries and they can't.
Most of them are worried about tomorrow. I tell them it'll be fine but they've got to begin looking outside the company and in many cases outside the newspaper business' traditional model.
I read a post the other day that is so true. Market your skills to someone else. Yes, the job market is tough but if I found work you can too.
Happy New Year!
Another Wisconsinite here, and one who has already been "let go". There are little to no jobs to be had around here.
ReplyDeleteBeing a single income household, and what little Gannett paid in this geographic area, I'd only been able to save a months basic bills. UEI doesn't cover it all.
Our roots are firmly planted here, as graduations this spring and next draw nearer. Relocating is not an option.
Gannett has a virtual Monopoly on the dailies that are within commuting distance, so employment in newspaper is no longer an option.
Financial security is only a dream. The economy the way it is, the employment prospects are dismal. Careerbuilder lists "work from home" scam ads and "Join the Army/Navy". Otherwise, the unspoken but ever so evident "too over qualified or too old" air fills the room at every interview.
I'm now looking into what is available in community assistance programs for when my UEI runs out.
Maybe I qualify for some programs with the United Way, to which my payroll donations went to for all this time. Oh the irony.
i'm in the midwest. it's -10. the snow has piled up about 2' deep and more's expected today.
ReplyDeletei lost my job in september. i was one of 3 directors laid off, all women, all in their 50's. it is pretty bleak out here. i've sent my resume out to more than 20 companies/jobs. i've had 1 interview where i was terribly over-qualified - didn't get the job - the pay was 1/2 what i was making. i'm applying for everything i can, some weeks, there are literally no more jobs to apply for. i get $306/wk unemployment pay. i have never been on unemployment before in 30 years.
i am single/live alone/the only one paying the bills and not sure how i will continue to in coming months.
the hardest part for me is the decisions being made at the top of gannett. they are not decisions that will sustain a business. i believe the paper i was at will be shut down. i firmly believe local investors will start a new LOCAL paper from the ashes. hopefully soon enough to get some of the stellar employees back to work that were discarded without even a sincere thank you or wish you well.
I'm a military veteran (one of the few people in my newsroom with military experience). But things are so bad at GCI that if I get a pink slip, I would seriously consider re-enlisting at my, ahem, advanced age. Yes people, it's that bad.
ReplyDeleteI work for a GCI paper in the midwest/mid-south area.
ReplyDeleteI'm unsure about anything regarding Gannett anymore. I believe that there will be more furloughs, and more layoffs, and that it is imperative for me to begin looking for other work now. That work may not be available, but I can at least sharpen my job-hunting skills and my resume.
I'm ready to do something else, frankly, as journalism is not my calling. I can live without it. My greatest concern is which of my job skills will transfer over to other fields, so I'm not stuck in some dead end job for the rest of my life.
We might reach a high of 45 today.
ReplyDeleteClear skies but chilly winds.
No plans for the unpaid furlough except for covering the mortgage.
Possible Future layoffs= numb to it can't do anything about it that i can see so why waste my time dreading it.
6:11 I work in the newsroom of the same paper as you and also was told directly to put 7.5 hours 5 days on the timesheet while my manager scheduled me to work 10-hour days, sometimes more.
ReplyDeleteThe poster who is challenging your truthfulness because no one has said they were fired for speaking up about illegal overtime is probably a pompous corporate ass. We all have challenged the OT as far as we can without getting fired. At least two people chosen for layoff were people who balked fairly loudly about free OT and stood up for others. Could be a coincidence, or maybe not. In "free will" employment states, employers don't have to tell anyone why they are firing someone or terminating their position, so no one will know.
... I'd sell everything east of the Mississippi. Buy into markets where you can own print, tv and create a kick butt web site. Sell every property under 100k circulation.
ReplyDeleteIts all about the margain.
1/18/2009 9:21 PM
What makes you think the FCC, which soon will be headed by a Democratic appointment and probably Michael Copps, will continue the policies allowing such media concentration?
I blame the Clinton and Bush administration's communication industry policies for the debacle we now see. The public isn't stupid. They know propaganda vehicles when they see them. Corporations took the journalism out of media, and they killed traditional media as a trusted source for information. More people I know believe their own trusted unverified blog over their local or national newspapers, TV or radio.
Snowing and windy in Nashville, where quest for Pulitzer continues with ongoing converage of TVA dam break (great work Ann Paine.) Just wish same attention was being given to other parts of the paper.
ReplyDeleteBut real reason for writing: Stop talking about sending Jim some cash and DO IT. If this blog is important to you (and obviously it is or you wouldn't keep popping on here), you have $5 (or $10, $20 or more) to help the cause. Even if you have never posted, you have used this blog to stay informed. Skip Starbucks or McDs or that copy of Sports Illustrated today and help the cause.
This historic week offers a great opportunity for all of us to plan a fresh start in many ways. Let's all pledge to send money to Jim, then get the heck out of Gannett and be more successful (and happier) than we ever dreamed we could be. Despite what management wants us to believe, we're smart, talented people. Just have to believe it ourselves.
We're at the point where we don't publish a business section the day after the market is closed, as it is today. How long will it take before the business sections disappear entirely? We are already behind sports every day of the week, including Sunday. I see the end of business sections very soon. Anyone know anything on this?
ReplyDeleteI just heard...is it true that TV news anchors are exempt from the furlough? I thought everyone meant everyone?
ReplyDeleteI'm hanging on and hoping I can stay employed. I am raising my kids on my own so failure's not an option for me. In the meantime, I am working on a graduate degree, attending a job fair later this week and talked with a friend about picking up a direct sales job on the side to put a little wiggle room in the budget. We eat frugally, and don't go out much to movies or other forms of entertainment. Eating out means a family trip to McDonald's. Vacation last year was going to a local water park. Splurges are for my kids' college expenses and my younger children play sports as their one indulgence. I plan on spending my furlough time planting an organic veggie garden if the weather's nice that week.
ReplyDeletePop Quiz answer NO I can't.
ReplyDeletePast years I can with pleasure.
I'm suddenly realizing rather quickly that in fact the "koolaid" is working. What use to be well repected employees are now verbally agreeing with managment. They actually think the week furough is going to save their job. This is sad.
ReplyDeletehey Jim it's great you have this going on. It seems things are pretty on the money regarding the "goings on" in gannett. managers say there is not truth to the blog. I find it more truthful then they are!
ReplyDeleteJim- I just sent you $25. I would rather you have it, than give it to another office contribution. Our site collects for the neighbors sick second cousin you wish you had.
ReplyDeleteDing Dong the LUNCH TRUCK just pulled into Jersey
ReplyDeletesnowing here at- CP
ReplyDeleteput your ice skates on folks the skating rink should be ready soon. Unless you're one of the VIP which allows you enough rock salt to burn a dogs heel.
It's a sunny 79 in Phoenix and Super Bowl bound. Life is not bad today. Stay tough 5:41, your note is touching and 6:11 get some Zoloft, Prozac or Effexor....you have some serious anger issues.
ReplyDeleteTemps in the 20s feel positively balmy here in the Northeast.
ReplyDeleteI decided it's a waste of good energy to worry about my job, though I've been with Gannett for 25-plus years. If I get laid off, I'll look for a job in PR, and if I can't find one, I'll go back to school to become a teacher or maybe work in the medical field. I have a bit of a financial cushion but am in my 50s and never thought I'd even consider leaving journalism.
It's not just newspapers -- as long as the economy is in the tank, advertising is going to suffer big-time. Clear Channel is going to announce layoffs Tuesday, according to one employee I know.
The already sold CN building in Bridgewater, NJ is toasty! And its about 1/8 occupado. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteOff-topic: I ran across this tidbit about the Newseum
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/9qjdlw
Or, if you like to know where you're going first
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=22&media_view_id=10058
I am looking forward to the economy turning around so I can expect a 2 percent raise. Also they can bring back all thier relatives who don't do crap.
ReplyDelete3:19 You're quite savy regarding prescription drugs. Lucky you
ReplyDeleteOne question?
ReplyDeleteHey Corporate, What the FUCK!!!
If you have to work off the clock, send an email to a personal account from work documenting the time. DO one at the start of the off clock work and one at the end. You will be glad you did. I saved emails from several years. Positive outcome.
ReplyDeleteTV people have legally binding contracts and GCI can't unilaterally make them take a furlough.
ReplyDeleteNow, if the anchor/reporter and their union agree to it, that's different.
I'm not a Gannett employee (nor a former employee) but I am a journalist, including experience as a business writer. Anyway, it's interesting news out of Tucson with Gannett saying it will shutter the Citizen if no buyer can be found by March 31. This is the second time in a week or so that a newspaper chain has taken the "buy this paper or we'll close it" route (the other being the owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). No one should take that as a serious sale offer, because the time between the announcement and the deadline for making an offer is ridiculously short. Real business just doesn't get done in that span of time. So that leaves the real motive being -- what? Some sort of half-assed notice to employees to prepare themselves for a layoff?
ReplyDeleteI work for Army Times Publishing Co. there were recent lay offs during the past week.
ReplyDeleteThey are now combining departments and phasing out some international newspapers.
Management claims that furloughs will affect the offset sites that are not meeting the numbers
Daniel Burnette of Peoria, AZ said...
ReplyDelete"So that leaves the real motive being -- what? Some sort of half-assed notice to employees to prepare themselves for a layoff?"
No, it's a stern warning to the rest of Gannett's employees that this may happen to you if you don't cave and take a bullet for the company.
So employees in Louisville found out today...and some late last Friday, that the building services crew (10+ people) will be out of a job by January's end. They were told that they were more than welcome to apply for the outsourced company that's been hired to replace them. This, of course, is for lower pay, even crappier hours, etc. Futhermore, through a very close to the subject source, I was informed of the next group to be canned...the security department (10+ people!) Can't wait to see how that is handled!!! So much for furlough approach...
ReplyDeleteI just cashed my Gannett dividend checks today, thinking that the $50 paid out to me was but a drop in the bucket of the millions they must be paying to big shareholders. And they couldn't even spell "Gannett" right on the checks.
ReplyDeletePOP QUIZ: Definitely NOT!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone has today's Courier News look at the grinning insipid face of the managing editor on the front page. This time he's not talking about the cuddly animals he likes to feature, but the entire column earns him the title of "Our Sillypants Gannett Parrot"! Not an original thought in the whole mess.
I can't think of a better place to spend one's furlough than the Super Bowl!
ReplyDeleteBut then I'm not a top executive.
I'm shocked that nothing on the post is about the Gannett paper in Arizona being sold. If it isn't, it is shutting down by the end of March and all employees are being le† go. Got an email on it today because I am signed up as an investor. Check it out Jim. Please ignore if this has already been posted.
ReplyDeleteThe news from Louisville has to take the cake!!! Not even a week has gone by when "furloughs" were anounced by Gannett and Gannett is laying people off. Is anybody reading this? Is anybody getting this? What kind of people are running Gannett? For the love of God, can't you (Gannett) let up for one week? Are you really that jaded or corrupt or are you just a company full of money grubbing dunces? Have you no sense of the human beings that you once were? I'm really at a loss as to how Gannett expects it's employees to place trust in them and what they say when barely a week goes by... Unbelieveable!
ReplyDeleteIn Reno, the publisher is holding a meeting with managers Tuesday and later with non-manager. Don't know what this is about.
ReplyDeleteIdeas?
Financially, I can get by for awhile. Spouse and I have enough money stashed away to cover our debts without tapping the withering 401k.
ReplyDeleteI could list several reasons why my job seems secure, but as we have seen in recent months, no one (and no department) is indispensable.
So the company is furloughing people to avoid layoffs, but laying off employees at the same time? That's some crazy shit.
ReplyDeleteSo do we need a thread to track who is and who is not exempt from this godd*mn furlough? It seems like the pool of participants is shrinking before our eyes. No TV anchors, no Detroit, no Tucson, no Hawaii, some production sites sprinkled here and there. Seriously, wtf?
ReplyDeleteBuilding services? Security? What is that. Not at my site.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even have a cleaning person.
Are the Carrier's included in this? If so who is going to deliver the paper to the home's?
ReplyDelete9:25 p.m.- The Citizen's likely demise (sorry) has been the subject of at least a couple of Jim's earlier posts.
ReplyDelete12:35 a.m.- Would you like to trade places with the people in Tucson? As has been predicted with some grim confidence several times over, the Citizen is going to die. Death is generally considered a permanent condition. That means it lasts longer than one week.
Maybe shitting on the floor would be like some kind of rain dance to save the Citizen from shuttering. Everybody, drop your chinos! Especially the Joyzee group. You know you want to... again.
PROBLEM SOLVING 101;
ReplyDeleteEveryone making 1 million plus works for $1.00 until end of march.500k to 999k 2 weeks furlough. 250k to 499k one week. everyone else 3 days mandatory 5 alowed.
board of directors pay cut in 1/4. dividends cut in 1/4
problem solved