Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday | Jan. 28 | Your News & Comments
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127 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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I will be 52 years old on my next birthday. What about you?
ReplyDelete42 ... 43 next month
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm furloughed, am I allowed to visit Gannett Blog? I didn't see anything about that from my editor or GM.
ReplyDelete37... and none of my associates at my age has done essentially the same job for the same company for 20 years.
ReplyDeleteMid-fifties and laid off last month after many years giving Gannett my best. Working for a competitor now and loving the thought of getting severance and stealing business from them at the same time.
ReplyDeleteEveryday....bash bash bash...LOL anyone watch CNN the whole country is going down....not just freakin Gannett....open your eyes and get the blinders off...
ReplyDelete54 in the next few months.
ReplyDeleteI came to work at the Detroit News in a non-editorial department shortly after Gannett purchased the News from the Evening News Association back in the mid-80's. I got to know one of the editorial guys who has since retired. At the time I met him he was probably in his early fifties.
ReplyDeleteHe used to complain about Gannett and how they had a reputation for blowing out the older skilled workers to save money.I dismissed much of what he said at the time and chalked it up to somebody unhappy with the sale of the ENA. I was young and excited about working at the newspaper.
Well here I am in that fifty-something age group now living what he had said all along. So DP, you were absolutely right! And if you're reading this blog we never did make it out for that ice cream soda that you promised and we should get together....
52, as well.
ReplyDeleteGreenville/Asheville consolidation?
ReplyDeleteI am hearing people chat about more consolidation between the papers with the possibilities of more jobs moving to Greenville.
Does anyone else have anymore information?
Quote:
If you don't have a Plan B your an idiot.
Open note to management:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice to stay away from the "gossip" and "negativity" of the Gannett Blog. But you're missing the point:
We're HERE because we aren't being HEARD.
I will be sad to see the exodus of talent (what remains) from this company and this industry when the job market comes back.
People don't leave jobs. They leave bosses. Or so I've heard.
What the hell? Are you really trying to depress us? (A young 49. Months away.)
ReplyDeleteI might have missed earlier posts on this topic, but has anyone seen any sign of the 2% additions to 401K payments for older employees with qualifying time? When Gannett folded the pension plan, the company was very specific about tacking on an additional payment annually for those on the payroll as of Dec. 31 of each year. The terms did not appear to be the type that the company can retroactively cancel for any previous year worked. They've been sitting on the 2008 payment for a month, at a cost to those who earned it. Corporate provided nothing specific about when the deposit was to occur each year, but some answer seems due.
ReplyDelete44 this year - time to be taken to the curb
ReplyDeleteSame here - Feb. 22 I will be 43
ReplyDelete44 ... just turned this month.
ReplyDeleteJust turned 59. Hope there's enough air in the tank to complete the journalistic dive.
ReplyDelete56 Sept. this year
ReplyDeleteand laid off
Oh, my. Read the NYT Q4 revenue report, and see that Internet revenue is off 11 percent. So what with GCI's gamble with Ripple6 and race to the Web with ContentOne. Is GCI betting all of its future on a technology that is not producing the revenue needed to make up for the loss of dead tree ads? I don't think the brains in McLean contemplated the idea that Web advertisements would decline along with everything else in this recession. We will know next week, but, unfortunately, we are going to pay for this idiocy.
ReplyDeleteJust turned 46 last Saturday.
ReplyDelete52 next month. Geez, I'm old.
ReplyDeleteOld enough to be discriminated against when looking for work :(
ReplyDelete49
ReplyDeleteDo any reporter types out there know how the Stimulus Package will effect the heath care for unemployed workers.
ReplyDeleteI've found some things but I can't figure out if I (as a laid off 40 year old receiving unemployment) will get COBRA at a discount (do I have to be currently signed up with it? I'm not it was to expensive) or can I get on my states Medicaid plan?
I know it hasn't been signed yet, but that's a technicality at this point.
COBRA is crazy. It would have been a weeks unemployment to keep it.
Thanks for any help sorting this out, I'd think a lot of former Gannettoids would be interested.
Just turned 48. Without a job. Casualty of Gannett wack job.
ReplyDeleteI am 61, and laid off last year. Hired by an enlightened company that looked past my wrinkles and recognized what I bring in terms of work ethic, knowledge, and talent.
ReplyDeleteCapt. Sullenberger who just saved all those lives in the Hudson River is 57. Don't tell me he should be laid off.
From HREonline.com: "According to the US Dept. of Labor, workers age 55 and older accounted for nearly 19 percent of the layoffs in 2007, compared with about 13 percent in 2000."
For those of you thinking you might win an age discrimination suit, you might want to rethink that. It happens every day, everwhere, with impunity.
Dang -- not good numbers for the NYT today. Revenue down 48 percent in fourth quarter of 08 when compared to the fourth quarter of 07.
ReplyDelete41 next month, and it looks like I'll still be employed by Gannett. But who knows who I'll work for when I hit 42.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 50, though I look a lot younger. And while unemployed and job hunting, feeling age discrimination all over big time.
ReplyDeleteI'll be 54 in March. But if Gannett shows me the door, I'll figure out something else to do.
ReplyDeleteAfter the 1987 stock market crash, I lost a job at a tiny company. So I worked as an independent contractor for several years for different companies. When times are bad, the jobs once done by full-time employees often still need to be done, but maybe they're done by outsiders who cook up their own business.
At nearly 54, I am bringing more experience and efficiency to whatever I might do after Gannett. Age can be a benefit, not a drawback.
42
ReplyDeleteA very lively 70, in 22 days. Took the buyout at 69. Am glad I did, many times over. It was a blessing. I was running on empty.
ReplyDeleteJust turned 57 - right after a December layoff. Job hunting has been dismal, but finally getting a few nibbles.
ReplyDeleteAs for those who complain about "the whiners," I'd like to quote one of my non-Gannett publishers:
"Solutions to problems are found closest to their sources."
While decisions had to be made, and accountability held, and a traditional management structure was in place, at least that company's publisher tried to run a far less top-down organization than Gannett.
I'll be 44 on April 15 - Tax Day - uuggh! But maybe since I've left Gannett, all those lines and grey hairs will fade and I'll regain my youthful appearance. I don't "feel" 44 most days - whatever that means.
ReplyDelete39...the big 4-0 is later this year. And I have spent 20 1/2 years working for newspapers
ReplyDelete55 or 165 in Gannett years.
ReplyDelete49 and laid off by Gannett. What a surprise to find this common theme.
ReplyDelete53 - layed off and job hunting - I think I'm lucky cause I'm younger looking and acting, but am sure the number doesn't help.
ReplyDeleteI'm 25, 26 in April. Why was it the younger people were given the boot so much?
ReplyDelete44
ReplyDeleteYou never know when an ex-Gannett publisher is going to show up.
ReplyDeleteLittle thing in Denver's alt-weekly about the Denver Post and how the it borrowed $13 million from the JOA there. Link.
The first commenter adds...
The No. 1 reason behind the collapse of both of these newspapers has to rest at the feet of Harry Whipple, CEO of the DNA. His backward style of management and complete ignorance of the Internet has led both papers down this path. Don't let anyone tell you different.
And Cincinnati nods, "yup."
Like you, I am also 51. I was let go in December after many years of dedicated service and loyalty. I am highly skilled, according to my former colleagues, but have been unable to find suitable work. It is far worse our here than most people can imagine.
ReplyDeleteI was let go for all the wrong reasons (I know everyone says that, but in my case it really is accurate), which makes my current situation even harder to digest. Someone at Gannett should have taken a much closer look at who was about to be laid off before the cuts were finalized. The company put too much faith in those managers charged with making the cuts. As a result, some bad decisions were made, based on little more than false perceptions and personal vendettas. Old petty grudges should not have been the basis for personnel decisions! And therefore there is a lot less talent at GCI properties than there was just three months ago.
45 and Unemployed. I should be celebrating my 40's. I am now looking at the uncertainity of it all.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know why and who the 'Big Wig" were coming to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle today (Wednesday). All we were told was to dress nicely and be quiet.
ReplyDelete10:15 Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but nothing in the stimulus package will impact health benefits. That legislative package is down the road, probably way down the road. Also, you will have to pay one way or the other for these health benefits, so Obama might not be the salvation you think on health benefit issues.
ReplyDelete30
ReplyDelete37. I came into the company as a youngster among folks who had been working there since before I was born. Many are still there. I don't get into the young vs. old arguments because we've all got something to offer. The older workers know the business back and forth and know what it takes to get the paper out without drama. The younger workers bring different ideas and understand the newer technologies. You need both sides for a viable operation.
ReplyDeleteword verification - retect. Detecting something for a second time?
49
ReplyDeleteNot young but not on top of the income food chain either.Comfortably in the middle, of there is such a thing.
By the way, if companies start letting go most of their fortysomethings and fiftysomethings, what will that do to the economy? I suspect 90 percent of folks in this category can't afford to retire at such an age.
"Is GCI betting all of its future on a technology that is not producing the revenue needed to make up for the loss of dead tree ads?"
ReplyDeleteUm... In a word: "yes".
Problem is, they only got serious about it well *after* the damage had been done and newsprint was in a nosedive. Right about the time they leveraged online control away from local papers with the advent of Publicus, metrics showed that the only growth in the whole company was in online. Everyone jumped on board and started calculating what we could centralize and do away with. The lesson no one learned was all this growth that was going on in online happened while we were all producing our own online publications - a point well missed by the Gannett think-tank.
The real problem was, online was never taken as serious. There was no real "plan" to make money with it - it was just something that Gannett "needed" to be involved in to remain "competetive" in the new "millenium" (buzzwords added intentionally to highlight the absurdity of it all). Yep, online was our very own red-headed stepchild. I remember one time my publisher walking away yelling "pennies on the dollar, pennies on the dollar" when confronted about why Online was not being perceived as an important revenue producer. And he was right, and sadly, still is.
The realization that Gannett needed to find a REAL way to transfer print revenues to online was a Dollar short and a day late. In fact, in some if not many Gannett newspapers, a sales rep wouldn't get squat for selling Online ads, but they'd reap big bucks for selling print, hence there was no incentive for anyone to transfer dollars over to the new technology.
Throw online managers into the mix who were up against old school publishers that begrudgingly followed online directives because "they simply had to" and all you had left was a formula for failure.
35, 13 with gannett, cashed out my pension for 30k, paid off all my debt, onto my next career and lovin life!
ReplyDelete28. Left Gannett on my own. Laid off after. Back in the game. But looking for something new. Summing up a short career in four sentences. Gotta love it.
ReplyDelete54 in May and so thankful I chose to leave Gannett--lots of freelance and independent contractor jobs out there. I am now able to pick and choose what I do on my terms. I took a chance and won. The only regret is that I didn't do it sooner!!!
ReplyDeleteGood riddance to Gannett.
WOW so many laid off in their 50's - thanks for asking the question Jim, interesting
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the 2% (or 4%) supplementary payments into the 401(k)s that 8:31 asked about, we asked HR in my workplace. HR checked with corporate and was told the payments would be in the latter part of February.
ReplyDeleteI'll be 50 in February. Laid-off last month. Worked almost 20 years for Gannett.
ReplyDeleteIs the Gannett pension plan properly funded or should I take my money?
ReplyDelete6:16 -- By your reasoning, a company should be able to do what ever it likes during tough times?
ReplyDeleteA company that's still profitable should kick workers with years of loyalty to the road in order to make more money?
Yeah, times are hard which is all the more reason for people to stand up for themselves and do what they can to maximize their income. That's what the company is doing.
It's the sheep who lay down and say nothing that have allowed this company to be controlled by greedy corporations who will outsource jobs at the drop of a hat. Something like 10 percent of the people in the U.S. control 90 percent of the money. If more of the 90 percent that are being stepped on cared, everybody would prosper.
But I guess it's easier to take the corporate line, tuck your head in the sand and say, "Times are hard everywhere."
I'm holding at 29 and my mom's decided to hold at 47. We've been holding for 16 years now.
ReplyDelete38 as of Friday
ReplyDeleteGod bless you 11:34, you give us all hope about being washed up at 50...
ReplyDelete56 this year and took buyout. Don't know if I could have survived at my paper under the ongoing circumstances, but job-market is also tough. Still miss my colleagues every day.
12:50 That is the best summation of what is happening that I have read. It explains this desparate gamble with Ripple6, a worthless technology Corporate bought at an as yet undetermined price. Now they have rearranged the ad salesman's compensation tables to take the Internet into account, they are getting less and less revenues. It is easy to see why, as salesmen have to spend as much time working to get Internet ads as regular print ads, but the revenues only come in big buckets with the print ads. I think some of our brains trust in McLean will wake up to this fact sometime this year, and there will be a huge new Newspaper2010 to try and get newspaper print ads back, to no avail. It is all so predictable, and so sad. They have killed the Golden Goose.
ReplyDelete1:18 p.m. -- Take your money and roll it DIRECTLY into an IRA. It gets the money out of Gannett's hands and puts it to work for you retirement, and saves you from dealing with the tax consequences. If you're not sure how to do this, there are many websites and financial pros that/who can walk you through it.
ReplyDeleteRemember that Gannett is only adjusting your retirement money *for inflation* now. It's essential, particularly if you have any sort of long-term outlook, to get that money away from the Gannett retirement plan.
1:18 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteTake the money, under any circumstances, but especially now. Get a good financial adviser and/or stick it in your mattress for now.
Can anyone in Gannett land tell me who Gannett uses for the flex spending account? HR is not returning phone calls and I think I only have until February to use it.
ReplyDeleteThe comic panel Non Sequitor has been pretty good this week. Tuesday, Print is Dead and today the 401k debacle.
ReplyDelete35. Laid off and loving life now!!
ReplyDeleteEven New York Times digital is down. Good thing GCI didn't gamble everything into digital, oh wait, they did. Have fun in the downward spiral.
ReplyDeleteKris at 1:28, tell your Mom I read somewhere (yup, online) that 60 is the new 40. As I am approaching 60 I will vote for that. Just wish the employers could see it.
ReplyDelete46 and jobless since I was kicked to the curb on Black Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteBTW: Thanks for this blog, Jim, and all your hard work.
26 but probably look older due to the stress everyday in the advertising department...
ReplyDelete30 and rapidly balding.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:57 - You're right on about the ad problems, but not about anyone figuring it out anytime soon. The “quasi sales edicts” and ideas that flow from Bergin and others continue to cost this company more than it will ever know, let alone ever willingly admit. Yet, he and others practice on.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 49, and I left GCI last summer. Still looking for work, but at least my mental and physical health have improved tremendously, and I've never felt and looked better.
ReplyDeleteto 6:16
ReplyDeleteyour right the country is going down. but no one seems to have the "flair" like Gannett.
47 layed off 24 years of service
ReplyDeleteMORE LAYOFFS ALERT!
ReplyDeletePhoenix quietly laid off a few ad sales people within the last few business days - they were associated more with the niche magazines than the main paper. The magazines are being/have been consolidated.
12:17 your are absolutely right!! The managers made their own choices. I think one day we'll see them again. Next time it's going to a different story to tell.
ReplyDeleteGreat question Jim.
ReplyDeleteGannett has taken advantage of the economy period! Now it's time the economy takes care of them.
ReplyDelete43 and laid off after over 20 years on the job. Most of our layoffs were 40-64 years old. Didn't get asked to take a demotion or pay cut to preserve my job, there was a list of positions to be eliminated and those employees were laid off regardless of whatever other skills they brought to the table.
ReplyDeleteThis is about fourth-hand information, but I hadn't seen these GNS specifics previously. Perhaps someone can confirm:
ReplyDelete"Everyone (57) at GNS is offered a buyout - 2 weeks pay for every year of service, max of 39 weeks. They are looking to cut 20 to 35 people. Deadline for responding is Feb. 4, involuntary layoffs -- if necessary -- come Feb. 9."
45 layed off. I don't know another company that has allowed this. Personal vendetta's etc. My lifes experiences have shown me this:
ReplyDelete"Are you as powerful as a king"? Why do you think a king has any power at all? A kings power is given to him by his subjects who can revolt at any moment and take it back" That is why all kings live in fear. they know that everything they possess is actually borrowed. It won't last forever. food for thought:)
My thought is, I think most of us layed off knew a little to much. Goings on in Gannett etc. Managers were feeling a little uncomfortable. Corporate should be talking to us. We know things that would blow their minds.
ReplyDeleteI am 50 and 1/2. Left GCI a few weeks before my 50th birthday.
ReplyDeleteIt was depressing in a way, liberating in another.
I realize the economy is depressing us but what makes newspaper people tough is their resiliency, ability to take on multi tasks and survive, indeed succeed.
Don't get down. It'll get better. It is turning the corner for me and will for you too. Keep a positive mental attitude.
This sounds corny but tough times dont last, tough people do.
I'm looking forward to my business with Gannett being done. Then I will have a lot more to say about this company and particularly one very high profile newspapers that let me go. Yes, I am also in my 50s like so many others. I've got so many stories and dark secrets to tell, I might need to start my own blog. Also wondering if the company has ever considered all the bad pub this chain is getting from former employees and how that might impact their ability to recruit good people in the future. I mean who wants to work for a company that thousands of current and former employees trash on such a grand scale?
ReplyDeleteHey Jim: I know for a fact that stock analysts read this blog. So how about setting up a "Questions Stock Analysts Need to Ask GCI" next Wednesday where we can plant some questions Corporate needs to answer. For example: 1. How much did GCI pay for Ripple6? 2. How much productivity has been lost because of the layoffs and furloughs, and do you plan more of either? I was thinking it would be good to set up next Wednesday because Friday is the call-in when analysts get to ask a few questions.
ReplyDeleteA number of points have been raised about the layoffs. Sadly, here are the answers, IMHO:
ReplyDelete1. Gannett lost a great pool of talent in the layoffs. Answer: Gannett does not care.
2. Gannett has gotten a lot of bad publicity as a result of the layoffs. Answer: Gannett does not care.
3. Gannett layoffs were often the result of personal vendettas and grudges. Answer: Gannett could care less about who was laid off or why.
4. Newsrooms won't be able to produce good stories in any quantity with the layoffs and furloughs. Answer: Gannett doesn't care what content surrounds the ads, as long as something does....
5. Employees and ex-employees won't forget this. Answer: Gannett knows that in a year, no one will remember any of this.
Am I wrong here? Don't think so.
Gannett has digital sales reps who
ReplyDeleteonly sell online so why do the regular newspaper reps still have a online goal?
I'm 61 and will be 62 in July. Got laid off in August 2008 due to job elimination.(That's what they told me.) I'm on unemployment now, and looking, but the job market isn't good. Getting ready to consider getting social security when I turn 62, but it'll be hard to make it on just that. I'm also going to inquire about age discrimination with a lawyer. I'll let you know.
ReplyDeleteDark secrets? stick around! We can all share some.
ReplyDelete59 and destroyed my mental and physical health. Have been unable to work for 4+ years.
ReplyDelete3:25 ?? Don't start another blog. I have some secrets of my own.
ReplyDeleteBergin is an idiot. Agencies are tired of hearing his BS. Look at what happen to that other clown? What was his name anyway?
ReplyDeleteIt's more like "personal elimination" keep your eyes open. our jobs are being done by someone else.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Stock Analysts! Keep getting the good word out on Jim's blog -- and make some contributions to it too!
ReplyDeleteIf I had a way to get the capital, I would buy my site. For a profit margin in the upper 20 percent, why the hell not. That would go even higher by buying direct from the mills and not having the gannett supply markup.
ReplyDeleteI have been here long enough to know who the producers are and who the slackers are, the ballast would be the first order of business.
Make it an employee owned company, profit sharing at the end of the year.
Bring the single copy price back down and also ad rates to bring things in line with say a 10 percent profit margin, still a heck of a lot of money.
It would be a huge boost to the local advertisers and the community.
Thanks MN, oops I mean 1:15
ReplyDelete50 - tossed to the curb while I was on vacation after 11 years with the company. Found a great job, better bennies/working conditions/more pay/the whole smash.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else hearing that Newsquest is on the block. The decline in the pound sounded the death knell, and it now is making the U.S. figures look worse.
ReplyDeleteRe: GNS
Those figures don't look right. I heard a third were in line for layoffs, but your figures say up to 35 out of 57, which looks like double that number.
The GNS cuts do emphasize to me that Corporate has clearly made a decision to get out of the news business with the community papers.
I will be 50. I came to this country as an immigrant, worked my as off, even with my master's degree, cleaning toilets.
ReplyDeleteI worked hard, lived modestly. I never imagined that at 50, I would starting all over again.
But I am still grateful. I've often shared this little tid bit with people who grumble about aging. I came upon it when I first came to this country. I was 21. I have not forgotten it since.
Here it goes:
"Never regret growing old. It is a privelege denied to many."
And so, despite my immense fall to near poverty, I am grateful to be alive!
Regarding the 401k payments, 1:15:
ReplyDeleteDo you still get the adjustment if you cashed out?
46....still @ Gannett but looking, I do have a job somewhat lined up as Plan-B.
ReplyDeleteI am 26. Was laid off due to personal grudges (I did not treat the local big wigs with as much ceremony and brown-nosing as they believed they were due)but officially, my 'position was eliminated'. Am still job-hunting 2 months later.
ReplyDelete38,laid off from gannett,10 years with them
ReplyDeleteThe Annapolis Capital's parent company just laid off 111 staffers. Contrary to Gannett's style of secrecy, the Capital staff was all informed at the same time - by a list of the fallen, distributed to everyone. So much for personnel confidentiality...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2009/01_28-31/TOP
59. Laid off in December. Hurt back moving to new, cheaper place. Have no health insurance, no new job yet. But have great hope for the future. The new president would call that audacious. I call it "survival."
ReplyDelete3:55 Do you mean Don "the rug" Stinson? He who destroyed many good people and careers?
ReplyDelete47, laid off after 12 years. I also say it was a personal grudge, but I got another job after 9 weeks, and actually am thankful for what happened.
ReplyDeleteJust turned 31, almost a decade w/gannett, waiting for the big stress-related heart attack anytime now ...
ReplyDelete1/3 to 1/2 of GNS employees will leave or be asked to leave through buyout or layoff. There were no specific numbers given.
ReplyDeleteMy word verification is "curri." I think that's spelled incorrectly.
6:45pm: Does Crystal Palace still have a registered nurse working on the premises full-time? I heard they wanted to eliminate that position, along with the part-time MD.
ReplyDeleteDon "The Rug" Stinson to the rescue!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll older then you Jim and certainly a lot older then the "Gannettblogsucks", blog.
ReplyDeletehas anyone heard about a rumor of layoffs on friday????
ReplyDeleteI heard that in Westchester.
3:47
ReplyDeleteI wish you the very best with the age discrimination claim, and hope more people take that route.
50 and laid off. Position was suppose to be eliminated, but the day after I was gone the head honchos had to scramble to unofficially fill it from within. Guess they realized, after the fact, that what I did was kind of important. I've heard other similar stories. So this whole thing about "elimination of positions" was a bunch of b.s. They eliminated people they didn't like, and much of that was based on faulty opinions and age. I believe this wave of layoffs will do more damage to the company in ways the bean counters never anticipated. These were bad layoffs. Not that there are good layoffs, but many of these were not justified layoffs. Many of the victims were good, productive people at the wrong age with the wrong boss at an opportune time. Gannett will be haunted by their unfair dismissals and lack of compassion in betraying these folks -- many who worked at profoundly profitable newspapers.
ReplyDelete64. i "volunteered" for the december layoffs because i knew what was coming and didn't want to be part of it, and figured any future layoff deal would be worse.
ReplyDelete10 days later i ran into a neighbor at costco. his first words: "wow! you look so much more relaxed already!"
Any whisperings of more layoffs in the weeklies division?
ReplyDelete57, laid off in August. A victim of Gannett's hatchet jobs. Employed by a small company that recognizes what talent can bring to a company.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing quite well, making less, but very happy.
I look forward to going to work every day.
I work across the street now, how ironic.
89 years old and officially laid off in December after 45 years. I still go to work everyday, write my columns, and steal money from the vending machines when I can. Nobody seems to notice I am still around. I can't stay home because my wife is 96 and the shock of this news would kill her prematurely. I definitely have the hots for the chickadee who runs finance for the moment. I also have several young ladies servicing my physical needs-- and this helps them. When the Indian publisher disappeared they had no one with my stamina to help them out, if you get my drift.
ReplyDeleteYes, sir! In the looks department they only kept the bow-wows and the brainless.
I feel bad writing this, but when I give you a big wink tomorrow you'll know I wrote it.
A word of wisdom to close: Be careful HNT people. Those the CN hasn't ruined or killed off will soon be replacing your jobs as the Silly Pants managing editor and his untalented assistant move the furniture around.
40, fired two years ago from a large Gannett "site," as they call it. This was among the greatest blessings in disguise that I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteIf you are in trouble at your site, especially in these hard times, DO NOT QUIT. If you can marginally document their bad behavior, Gannett will settle for up to 12 weeks' pay, even if you have been with them for a short while. If you don't believe me, loosen up someone in HR with a few beers.
Again, your ducks must line up, for they will settle only to avoid the expense of defending a lawsuit.
Should you opt to be fired instead of suffering before you are laid off anyway, understand that you also will become eligible for full uneployment benefits. If you quit, no soap...
To avoid an increase in their insurance, because they had settled for a big chunk of my annual salary (and of course, due to our undying love), Gannett fought me like a wolverine on unemployment. The appealed...and lost. The standard for a clawback is pretty high in most states.
Don't let Gannett fool or rattle you. Instead of a kick in the teeth, why not shoot for, say, $20K-$30K that your bosses will catch hell over (because they couldn't get you to quit).
You need not spend one cent on a lawyer, and you may make out better than some colleagues who took buyouts! Again, don't take my word for it. If you're a reporter, you know what you should do: report! Only this time, for your own sake.
As for job references, remember: Gannett's policy is to give only your name, rank and serial number. Of course, a prospective employer has ways of getting around that...but if you have read my note up to this point, you get my drift.
Kicker: Do not take baloney from this miserable company!
36 years old, my entire adult life spent with gannett. Feeling old in an information center full of newbies.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of New Jersey the C-N ran two AP briefs twice ... in the same section ... today! The two newsblips were on Page A-7/Column 1 and again on Page A-8/Column 6.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally the C-N relocated to Somerville as of Monday.
Jim, Why are you zagging your visitors?
ReplyDelete50 coming up soon and loving it! I have found my passion and it's not Gannett. Ever since I've been positive everything is moving forward. It is true that like attracts like. If you give positive energy, it comes back to you. Never would of believed it. I'm happy and enjoying life — even Gannett. I look forward to my next life after Gannett. And you know what, I did it on my own! think positive and things will come. Sounds silly and stupid, but it's working!
ReplyDelete48. Former Gannett OC member, left 2 1/2 years ago to live closer to family. I'm still in the business working for a family owned media group. The challenges facing the industry are no different here than anywhere else, but the difference is that my current organization is willing to do what's necessary to survive and thrive. No corporate mandates!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.7dvt.com/2009high-noon-burlington-free-press
ReplyDeleteHey Jim have you seen this?