Gannett announced another sweeping payroll cut, aimed at shoring up earnings while limiting layoffs. The No. 1 newspaper publisher mandated a second round of unpaid furloughs for most of its 41,500 worldwide employees, this one during the second quarter. It also froze wages for 29,000 U.S. newspaper workers for the coming year.
Yet, with revenue down 24% in the first two months, the company did not rule out more layoffs, after it cut 2,200 newspaper jobs during the fourth quarter. "That decision entirely depends on what happens with revenues during the rest of the year,'' Corporate told employees in a fact sheet. "No final decision has been or will be made at this time."The new reductions came just five days after Corporate disclosed $2 million in bonuses to CEO Craig Dubow and the other five highest-earning executives, driving thousands of infuriated employees yesterday to Gannett Blog. Investors cheered: GCI's stock soared nearly 10%, closing at $2.35.
Meanwhile, new proxy details emerged, showing even the board of directors pulling support from Gannett's shares. The board allowed Dubow and the other five top-paid execs to take their 2008 bonuses 100% in cash, reversing a policy that a minimum 25% be in shares.
[Image: yesterday's USA Today, Newseum. It is one of Gannett's 85 dailies in the U.S., and 17 in the U.K.]
This salary freeze is yet another blow for we young journalists in particular. I've been in the business five years and, unlike my coworkers who had the luck of working during the years of regular annual raises, I make almost the same as I did when I started out of college. I even have a Master's degree - and for what? To have yet another year where my pay still won't go up?
ReplyDeleteI'm married and have a baby on the way - and my husband and I are both Gannett employees. This is just so soul-crushing to know that no matter how hard I might work, I have no shot of increasing our quality of life working here. Lucky for Gannett, we have nowhere to go.
Do your part:
ReplyDeleteVote WITHHELD for all directors on your proxy.
Do it now.
That is the heart wrenching part of all this.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious from past reviews -- even getting the top percentage raise -- that I'm never going to make enough to afford to stay with Gannett.
Now, with the second pay decrease (I'm through calling them furloughs), I am convinced I'll never be able to make it up.
And they want more and more.
When the publisher met with us yesterday, someone asked about reviews during the wage freeze. He said reviews will still happen, but at the end all you will get is a thank you.
You know, I doubt even that.
It's nice that the news drove thousands of angry Gannetteers to your blog. Now if they would only pay up to keep you in business...
ReplyDeleteJim: I'd pay for your blog.
ReplyDelete10:56 at least your publisher met with you. All we got was a lousy e-mail.
ReplyDelete"This salary freeze is yet another blow for we young journalists in particular."
ReplyDeleteYou should learn to write properly. This should say "for us young journalists." No wonder your pay has not increased.
"I'm married and have a baby on the way"
Sounds like you should work smarter and not harder. Better planning would help, too.
1:13 must be a real winner.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, the individual you are criticizing was not writing, she was typing. I know its a small detail, but while you're nitpicking, I'll nitpick too.
Secondly, I've seen highly paid editors and even Binghamton's executive editor make grammatical errors that are much more egregious. I can dig up some links if you'd like.
Finally, I'm going to ask what your advice would be for better planning for our young friend here. Seriously, here's your chance to come off your mountaintop perch, dear sage, and enlighten us all in your infinite wisdom.
I'll wait, breathlessly for your anonymous post.
Thanks.
Tom
1:13, you may not be able to type "First!" at the top of the blog, but you can certainly start your post with "Biggest a-hole!"
ReplyDeleteToo bad your parents didn't exercise "better planning" before you were conceived.
Speaking of grammar, what's up with this?
ReplyDelete"I and a group of people from..."
I'm noticing that in papers and elsewhere lately. Call me an old foggie, but that makes me gag.
GROW UP
ReplyDelete"I'll wait, breathlessly for your anonymous post.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Tom"
Tom who? Sign with your full name if you're going to criticize anonymous signers.
Oh you feral pig, you know nothing of humor. How dare you criticize my anonymity while hiding behind your own.
ReplyDeleteTom (or is it)...
Even as a former Gannett employee, it feels horrible to see my former co-workers trying to work produce under conditions where they're stretched so thin. And now this.
ReplyDeleteBut it doesn't help either that between executives that are opposed to change and executives that are greedy, they still have to come to work and smile and act like they're lucky to have a job. In five years at the company, I never saw one person treated as if they were truly appreciated.
Is there a current class-action age discrimination suit vs. Gannett? How does one become a part of it?
ReplyDelete