Anonymous@11:38 a.m. writes: "Seemingly overnight, cameras have been installed in the Montgomery Advertiser newsroom. This company allegedly doesn't have a pot to urinate in and are forcing people to take unpaid leave, yet they can still scrape up the cash to spy on their employees. Creeps!"More examples: "Cameras have been installed in the mailroom in Greenville, S.C.,'' says Anonymous@7:33 p.m.
These followed an e-mail I got Tuesday from an Arizona Republic employee, who says unionized production workers rejected the paper's request that members agree to take unpaid furloughs.
"Management was none to pleased with our stance and is in the process of finding loopholes before the quarter is up,'' the employee told me. "They have also repositioned cameras in the pressroom in anticipation of God knows what. I guess they didn't think we'd say 'no' and it is affecting them strangely."
[Image: today's front page, Newseum]
Rats scurrying around for the last piece of cheese before the ship sinks will do strange things.
ReplyDeleteNow they are going to be able to read over our shoulders and find out who is leaking to Jim.
ReplyDeleteThe explanation for this is purely innocent: I am sure management just wants fair warning when employees tow the guillotines into the newsroom.
ReplyDeleteTalk about paranoia....
ReplyDeleteThe micro managing is coming down to this?
In regards to the union in Arizona turning down the furlough request...The Courier Journal ( Louisville) mailroom, did as well, last night...And management here is not pleased either.
ReplyDeleteOK. LOL @ 1:58. Still, I'd volunteer to sharpen the blades.
ReplyDeletere the union turning the furlough down in phx.
ReplyDeletehad the company allowed those that were going to volunteer to take a buy-out we MIGHT (not) have been a little more receptive. when they had the buy outs they said we weren't good enough for them. NOW they say be part of the team and take a furlough. NOT going to happen.
az pressman
A reader sent the following in an e-mail. I'm posting it here, with the author's permission, as a comment, with a little editing:
ReplyDeleteThis happened at WKYC-TV in Cleveland. It is totally true.
About seven years ago, a couple of people noticed something shiny behind an air supply grate. This was about 25 feet in the air as our newsroom is an “open newsroom”without a floor on top of it. A couple of the studio guys brought out the cherry picker used to change lights and do maintenance, sent it up and opened up the grate.
Inside they found a RC truck fitted with a small CCD camera and a microphone. It had audio and video cables attached to it. The cables were disconnected and the truck was brought down to the floor.
People gathered around it and were wondering aloud what it was, how it got there and why it was put there. About 15 minutes later, the head engineer at that time, [XXXXXX], came into the newsroom, scooped it up and walked up to the corner office on the second floor (GM [XXXXXX]’s office).
Later, a memo was put out stating that the camera was placed there to catch whomever was stealing things from people’s desks. We had heard nothing about things being stolen.
They [XXXXXXX] then installed two “security cameras” behind plastic bubbles in the newsroom and in the garage area.
Cameras have been installed in the mailroom in greenville. They've also just installed a whole new set of lights inside the parking garage. The old lights were fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's not unusual for newspapers to have security cameras throughout the building. No one actually reviews the tapes unless a theft, assault or break-in occurs. If that happens, the tapes are reviewed.
ReplyDeleteI'm one employee who appreciates this. Within the past year we have been able to identify an employee who came into our department overnight and stole things from our desk, and a sicko who was leaving sexually explicit notes on women's desks.
The posters who are attacking Montgomery and others should be a little less paranoid.
In addition, such projects as the security cameras, and the lighting mentioned in another post, are generally paid for with capital funds. The lighting project that is mention is probably an energy conversation project. There are many of them being implemented throughout the company to save energy on lights, utilities, etc.
Do you know how hard it is to stick an iMac down your pants and walk out the door looking natural? Now do it by avoiding all the cameras, going onto the roof, shinnying down the power poles and getting across the parking lot. It's easier if you tend to wear muumuus to work.
ReplyDelete(Jim, feel free to delete this comment if the Justice department comes after you looking for information on the wide-pants-wearing members of your public.)
Sounds like good security measures to me.
ReplyDeletePHOENIX,ELECTRICAL AND MACHINE SHOP ARE GOING ALONG WITH FURLOUGH. MAILROOM NOT INCLUDED BECAUSE THEY TOOK A $1.50 PAY CUT LAST CONTRACT. PRESSMEN NOT GOING ALONG WITH BECAUSE WOULD EFFECT THERE MANNING ON PRESS AND THIS WOULD BE UNSAFE. COMPANY ONLY WANTS UNIONS ON BOARD WHEN IT BENIFITS THEM.THIS IS A ONE TIME DEAL ONLY. BEST THING WOULD BE FOR ALL OF THE GANNETT UNIONS 12% TO BAND TOGETHER
ReplyDeleteGreenville Comment. For what? To monitor who is using postage for personal purposes? The lights in the garage possibly cameras too?
ReplyDeleteThey dont have security cameras in the main lobby but they now do in the mailroom? But they are making us take furlough. Speechless.
Nuts, they should have installed cameras in board rooms years ago to witness the most useless, reoccurring, poorly managed meetings that lead to... More of the same. There would be a wonderful video history of poor management. In Phoenix, there's a VP who was responsible for poorly managing free publications, that drained the company of money and resources until most were eliminated. So she got promoted and now oversees Circulation and is taking credit for little she's had anything to do with. Unless she can find a way to take credit for the dramatic circulation cutbacks by a competing paper, the election, football playoffs, Super Bowl... I heard she even cried at meetings regarding firing people which she apparently overcame with practice and targeting people she didn't like regardless of skills and accomplishments.
ReplyDelete