Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday | March 25 | Your News & Comments
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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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ReplyDeleteI filed for unemployment for my furlough. I got my money. For this one, will I file again, or just add another week off to the original claim? If the benefits run out after six months, but we get a furlough each quarter, are the Q3 and Q4 furloughs exempt since they're later than six months from the first claim, or good since the total weeks is less than six months time? My paper didn't provide any info and I'm confused? Has the stimulus changed this from the first time around?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Jim, don't the companies pay a fine if they go over their payment into unemployment insurance, meaning they pay for the payments? So won't Gannett get a huge bill in 2010 for all these? I know it wouldn't equal the savings, but I'm curious if that's the case. Thanks.
My word verification was PRESS. First time I've have an actual word and it's press. Interesting.
OK, especially for all you asking about COBRA recently; no, as I'm approaching the end of severance, I haven't gotten any COBRA info from Gannett yet. But, lo and behold, Aetna sure just happened to know in a just-arrived direct-mail solicitation that I am someone liekly in need of continuing my health insurance. And, it says in an up-to-date flier, don't you pay no mind to those federal COBRA subsidies without checking our great personal health-insurance rates -- we'll probably still beat them, if you pass our medical requirements, like, not ever being sick.
ReplyDeleteCoincidence? I think not!
So, Aetna, is this authorized use of confidential employee information? Did you pay Gannett extra for a mailing list of departed employees? Or does the company get a kickback or anything for signing up?
What a racket! (Or, as so many ex-journalists may be finding out, is it just good marketing/communications/PR?)
The kiddies that feel that they need to curse and intimidate are self centered, "hooray for me screw the other guys", types with gannett that haven't spent no more than five years aboard the sinking ship!People the sooner you realize to unionize the better you will be against the trolls of the compny that will screw you every quarter with furloughs and wage decreases! I will tell you what "don't listen to me!" And when "december" rolls around call me an A@@hole and we will see who the TRUE a@@hole is really! The top people in the coporation are self annoited pharoahs that think you are the slaves! We will see when december comes!! And how many pay decreases and furloughs you will have taken..............smirk!
ReplyDeleteHello fellow workers, I know you have made many sacrifices in the past and we at corporate have truly appreciated them. But we see fit to implement another furlough because we feel that you lower class people just aren't worth the effort and accomplishmets over the years you have strived for! That is why we have asked you to take another furlough and asked you also not to listen to the people on this blog about especially "UNIONS". I understand your grief better then they do with my 800,000 plus salary which is three times what the president makes. I just hope you are dedicated enough to still believe in us and keep drinking the "KOOL-Aid" till you reach the age over 30. Because then I truly believe the economy will turn around and we the true belivers of Gannett will have you youngsters by the balls, after a couple of children, and truly give us your souls. Regardless, Look into your hearts and realize that the pain is being felt also further up the ladder because I will have to take "TWO WEEKS' To your one! I just haven't decided what island I will be be spending it on? Or should I charge the shipping of my golf clubs? Regardless, This furlough is saving everyone from the drastic lay-offs but I cannot guarentee that there will not be another one nor the latter. Keep up the good work and know .............When you believe in us and drink our"KOOL-AID" you will survive and be promoted to the top of "OUR" class!! Sincerely and truly, yours Craig. p.s. I feel we are family for the first name basis! Hug your child for me! Love Craigie!
ReplyDeleteWith todays internet why can't we do what in the 1920's and 30's common workers had to break heads and truly fight to organize? We have the internet, and the coporations know this, it ought to be simpler for us to gain strength and the blue collar worker to stand up against unfair labor practices and Corporational grred and unionize!!!!!!!!!!! QUESTION>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>do you have what it takes? The Balls?
ReplyDeleteThe propaganda about union losses are true!!!!!! When a company like "GM" or the car industry TRULY suffers losses and needs to gain finacial ground the true unions make consessions and we give back pay! This is the true meaning of unions. They want the company to prosper but don't, like Gannett, want them to take advantage of the individual employee with fake yearly job evauluations and dismal raises so they can save the money for the pyramid pharaohs that reside at the top of corporate. Promises , Promises, promises are fine for the twenty and thirty year olds who haven't yet realized, hey I now have one or two kids and am looking for a future!! OH my did I say future, with pension frezzes and divedend reductions and watch my hands and "WAHLAAAAAAAA" another rabbit out of the hat! Where you lose! We will all get it when the dots are finally connected and everyone is complaining and crying like sissy-girls like what happened to "ENRON"? Oh it couldn't happen here? HAHA , canada's biggest newspaper owner went "BANKRUPT". End of sentence! Better believe that this is a turn of the winds of change and these rich people running the boards of coporations are on their way out and grabbing all of your invested stock money while you believe the market is going to rebound!They are gambling your future on the market! Please don't beleive that they have will have your pension money either when they belly up!!Read my LIPS+ they are crooks! Live your life to their beliefs and you will fail. GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGreed! How many more examples of this do you need, Time to circle the wagons and protect yourself, wake up my fellow taxpayer!
ReplyDeleteHere's the reason your Google revenue is off: Ad list - Furlough Questions?, Gannett Layoff, Executive Compensation, A Blog Worth Reading, and the big one, Is Your Face Wrinkly?
ReplyDeletePretty soon Google won't be able to afford to hire the robots that steal our stories!
From yesterday: When I lost one week of pay, it put well below the $60,000 band. I called HR and asked if now that my annual salary was BELOW $60,000 if I would then be charged the lower rate for my insurance.
ReplyDeleteWell, they acted like they had never heard such an absurd question. Our local HR person said she called corporate, who told her that no one else in the entire company had brought up this issue. Of course the answer was no.
I was supposed to make $60,170 this year. After two weeks of furlough, that's $2,315 less. And I too am also billed at the higher insurance bracket this year - AND NEXT YEAR because of the pay freeze.
What really frosts me is that had I done a mediocre job last year and gotten a crummy raise, I'd be hundreds of dollars ahead.
If corporate can't find a way to make this equitable, I'll be sure to use every dollar of company self-funded insurance plan I can legally put my hands on. Perhaps a medically-necessary boob job....
I would LOVE to get my job at Gannett back. So to all the disgruntled employees who hate the company so much, please quit so people who want jobs can get them back. A furlough is much better then a lay off.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate what you have, jobs are hard to come by right now.
stop bitching and start a revolution! just make sure you don't contact me while i'm on furlough.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the same pro-union zealot posted most of the comments so far. Is the SEIU haunting this blog now?
ReplyDeleteBTW, verification is "falses." I think that means that the poster above me should go ahead with the surgery.
7:27am-Yes, jobs are hard to come by, but just because we have jobs doesn't mean that we can't vent our frustrations with how this company operates. Unfortunately, it seems it is operating itself into oblivion, because while they are finding ways to cut expenses, there is no real innovation and the technology of the web, facebook, twitter, etc...has passed up Gannett a long time ago. Yes, I appreciate my job, but am being innovative myself in finding the jobs out there that do exist.
ReplyDelete7:27 am -- finally a voice of reason. No kidding. All of you who hate Gannett, leave. So those of us who need the jobs can come back in.
ReplyDeleteAnd this union propaganda being spouted here -- yah, where did all those union jobs go at plants that had to shut down coz the union drove costs up so bad that it was impossible to make any money at all.
Last I heard you go into business to make money, not lose it.
I'd almost put money down or at least a week's furlough that the next big paper to close is a union paper. Good riddance.
Re: 7:27 a.m.
ReplyDeleteEven if all the disgruntled employees left, you're not ignorant enough to think you'd be hired back, are you? Once people are gone in Gannett, they are gone, dead and buried, never to be seen or heard from again.
Quit wishing for what won't happen and look for another job with another company.
All you unions bitch about equality and throw your outstanding benefits in everyone's faces. But you jerks have been making alot more then your pay grade for a long time, just like your despised counterparts in mgmt that you claim. Now you have ruined this for the people of the future because you have been enjoying your golden parachutes for a long time. And your all smiles and smart asses now that you don't have to take furloughs but soon the damn presses will be shut down and doors locked. But hey you still have your unions, collectively bargain how to get the locks off the doors.
ReplyDelete8:56
ReplyDeleteGannett has hired me back several times---granted I left the last time for good ,on my own accord but Gannett does hire some employees back.
Cincinnati's current VP/Advertising was rehired. Though, unless you really need the money, why would anyone want to go back.
ReplyDeleteI am ex GCI and I have never been in a union, but I have enjoyed safety and security derived from hard won union benefits at many jobs and in my daily life. Let's see, I drive a UAW built car; enjoy IBEW and Steelworkers generated electricity; shop at a UFCW represented Kroger store, and have my trash picked up by an AFCSME crew. Unions gave this country a prosperous working class. Wall Street robber barons are not union members.Given the choice, they would rather have 13 year olds running band saws in meat packing plants. More profits that way.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know whats happening with Dave Hunke in Detroit?
ReplyDeleteGannett using week-long furloughs to allow their workers to draw unemployment benefits even though they still have jobs?
ReplyDeleteMeaning taxpayers are helping Gannett balance their bottom line. Read more here. http://tiny.cc/GYf7e
Hopefully Hunke in Detroit goes soon. I heard an interview with him on the Radio yesterday morning.
ReplyDeleteHe said that there has been no talk of reducing two papers to one masthead. That has to be a huge LIE.
Hopefully the News survives and the Free Press goes by the way of the Dodo.
The problem with unemployment is that the compnay will be hurt more in the long run.
ReplyDeleteThe cost to a company is usually a 3-5 year moving average rate and the company will be reimbursing the state for many years after you have drawn your benefits.
First of all, I am not in a union and have never been in one. But let me ask you this, why should I do the same job as you, but get paid way below the wage you make just because I do not live in the same area? The company's excuse for paying me the same wage is cost of living is cheaper. That is a bunch of BS. The cost of living here is just as high. In fact, we drive to bigger towns to buy products BECAUSE they are cheaper! Cars, groceries, clothes, appliances, computers, you name it, everything you use, need, consume is cheaper somewhere else, but we are paid less for doing THE VERY SAME WORK YOU DO. If we were union, we would be paid the same wage as you, which is only fair. We work just as hard as you (or not, as the case may be). Equality is not just for minorities you know. I remember back in the early 90s when a union representative was rumored to be coming to town. Each one of us workers was told personally that if we were seen talking to this union representative we would be fired on the spot. So the union representative couldn't get anyone to talk to him because we would lose our jobs, and their isn't really any place else to work here. Looking back, I wish we would have told them to SUCK IT and talked to the representative. They couldn't have fired the whole damn building. Now we have assholes running this company, taking their huge ass bonuses, and telling us we have to take furloughs, etc.
ReplyDeleteHey, for all of those busted down to a lower income level, RAISE HELL AND GET YOUR INSURANCE PREMIUM LOWERED! FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS! NO ONE ELSE WILL FIGHT FOR YOU! If your annual salary is now below the $60,000 mark, they legally have to lower your insurance payments! If they can raise it since it was over $5.00, MAKE THEM LOWER IT! BE PERSISTENT! DON'T GIVE UP! They are actually stealing the money from you if they continue to take the higher premiums from your paycheck. Remember, nobody in management or higher cares about the worker bees, only about the bottom line. Do not let them intimidate you.
Who is the new Editor at USA Today?
ReplyDelete9:15
ReplyDeleteI need the money and even though they would rehire me again, I will struggle through without working for Gannett--I'm much better off in the long run.
7:18
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. If you're below 60,000 you should pay the lower insurance rate.
7:18 - "medically necessary" boob jobs.
ReplyDeleteAren't they all? They always have been a cure for my depression....
I've posted some of the pro-union comments. I'm not currently in a union, and I've only belonged once in my life, for a brief period. I saw the good and the bad sides. In my view, the good outweighed the bad, but I respect those who disagree.
ReplyDeleteMy only point is, right now you have no power. They can lay you off, freeze your pay raise, force you to take a week off without pay, cut your benefits -- anything, really. And what recourse do you have?
Well, you can come here, and bitch about it, and threaten to call in sick, but these are futile, impotent gestures that change nothing.
But you do have the option to organize. Maybe it won't change anything, either, but it would cause management to take you seriously. It would be the quickest and most effective way to register your outrage.
If you just do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. You're not as powerless as you think you are.
But I don't think most people are ready to organize. They haven't been pushed around enough yet.
"Who is the new Editor at USA Today?"
ReplyDeleteWith ContentOne, why does USA Today need an editor? A brain dead newspaper doesn't need a brain. A soulless newspaper doesn't need a soul. A heartless newspaper doesn't need a heart.
Gannett sees a rudderless newspaper doesn't need a rudder. They've proved long before USA Today was founded that auto-pilot works fine. Unfortunately Gannett never learned how to land once auto-pilot stops functioning. HA!
I was laid off last year from Gannett and I totally understand the angst that present employees have with the company. For those of you that are telling them that they should be glad to have their job - well - that sounds like a corporate mandate. They feel they are doing everyone a favor by keeping them employed while at the same time lowering worker's pay so they can keep their bonuses. It is truly disgusting. We should all be angry- those laid off and those still employed because we are all getting screwed in some capacity to satisfy their greed.
ReplyDeleteJim: where's the reporting on the penny-pinching? Cutting our cell phone reimbursements? Going "green"? Lowering the water temps to save costs? Eliminating employee awards at local sites?
ReplyDelete11:09 am: Are you asking about those expense reductions -- or telling us about them?
ReplyDeleteClearly, you can put together a sentence or two; how about posting more detailed information for all of us?
Currently working outside the biz. I spent more than twenty five years in local management at several "major chain" newspapers, including a short stint at a Gannett property. It is very difficult to say this, but it very well may be time for unionization wherever possible.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I left the business was the character of people I managed with and for. It seemed to get worse, year after year. Most, but not all, people who came into management got there not through accomplishment, but through politics or favoritism, or unethical conduct which made them look good in the short term but hurt the companies in the long term. There was some "couch casting" of course, but the common characteristic was selfishness and their subordination of the interest of the company to their own financial and professional advancement.
Just look at the committees, task forces, "initiatives", retreats, etc. That is all busywork for the incompetent pollitickers, so that they might look like they are doing something while the rest of the company somehow gets a paper out and makes the money that funds their nonsense. It appears the business of the corporate class is now PLAYING business, rather than DOING business.
When I was a newbie in newspapers, I took my cue from a very successful VP of marketing who I tried to emulate throughout my career. During a staff meeting, he inquired of my boss (who was his direct report) after my boss delivered a very "sophisticated" presentation:
So, how many more papers will we sell?
My point is that non-union shops depend on management that still views its success as dependent upon the operating success of the company and everyone who makes up the company, not on how they play the game or how they can manipulate their personal situation to survive one more quarter. It takes leaders who can and want to do the job, not cowards who hide in their offices, take rewards from the company without giving back, and gain from the use and abuse of others.
It appears that Gannett, like most newspaper companies, has long been without that type of leadership. In that case, you are better following the lead of your executives, and do what is best for YOURSELVES. Unionization may do long term harm, but you will be doing what is in your own short term benefit. Management has set the example and the rules. They can't fault you for figuring out how to play along.
Some one said yesterday that he thinks they are going to put us on furlough every quarter, and if so he would have four more weeks of vacation to take.Well dream on if you think you are getting vacation.Why would they pay you for vacation when they can just lay you off and save that money.That would be eight weeks of your salery saved.THINK ABOUT THAT. ac
ReplyDelete"And when "december" rolls around call me an A@@hole and we will see who the TRUE a@@hole is really!"
ReplyDeleteYou need to up the dosage of whatever medication you're taking.
"Some one said yesterday that he thinks they are going to put us on furlough every quarter, and if so he would have four more weeks of vacation to take.Well dream on if you think you are getting vacation.Why would they pay you for vacation when they can just lay you off and save that money.That would be eight weeks of your salery saved.THINK ABOUT THAT. ac"
ReplyDeleteLearn. To. Write. Knowing how to spell would be good, too.
Spend a year or two doing these things. Then you can come back and post without seeming like a complete boob.
"Unfortunately Gannett never learned how to land once auto-pilot stops functioning. HA!"
ReplyDeleteWhy are you laughing? That wasn't amusing.
All this talk of boobs, you'd think this was either a Metromix or Mom's site.
ReplyDeleteOk, what is all this talk about different health insurance premiums based on your annual salary??? At the newspaper I work at, we all pay the same premiums regardless of annual salary; the only difference in premiums would be based on choosing among the different health plans offered. It sounds like your newspaper has a really f'd up health plan.....
ReplyDelete12:35 - Where do you work?
ReplyDeleteI'm currently with Gannett and to date, I've worked at 5 different locations. At each site, the health insurance premimum was based upon compensation.
I just copy and pasted this from the app.com (Asbury Park) website -
ReplyDeleteArticle is about a woman who is on COBRA and the challenges she faces...
Congress in February passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and agreed to pick up 65 percent of the premium for workers receiving COBRA for nine months. Workers who initially rejected COBRA were given a grace period to contact their employer and opt into the program.
The main caveat: It applies only to workers who have lost their jobs since Sept. 1, 2008, when employers began to lay off workers at a faster pace.
The law has other caveats. For example, the benefit begins to phase out for individuals making more than $125,000 and households making more than $250,000 a year.
So all of us December victims are shit out of luck when it comes to the govt help??
5:11a-The president's salary is $400k a year. (Just nit-picking.)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe artists in Phoenix are worried because during the furloughs they are getting their work done with less people. They think management will think that they can let go of more artists because they work is getting done even when lots of people are out that day.
ReplyDelete6:51 a.m. --
ReplyDeleteWouldn't Furlough Questions?, Gannett Layoff and Executive Compensation possibly draw your interest? Sure, not the others, but anything with Gannett or Furlough in it draws my eye, granted not more than once or so, but still. What other ads would draw your mouse's attention?
That is a great idea to file for unemployment for the furloughs. We just found out there are going to be more furloughs and maybe more people let go depending on sales revenues.
ReplyDelete12:46, you might try reading for comprehension. Your copy/paste said the COBRA help applies to people laid off after Sept. 1, 2008. My calendar shows that December comes after September. So assuming you're operating on the same calendar as the rest of us, a December layoff is eligible for the federal assistance.
ReplyDeleteWell, it looks like Atlanta just jumped off the cliff, drank the Kool-Aid... whatever...
ReplyDeleteAnnounced major cuts and staff reduction, plus "trimming" its circulation area. (??)
I guess those annoying customers are just not worth serving any more.
LOL
wow! You guys are SO upset!! I just don't get it! Just look at all the free time you'll have for golf, taking the boat out, going to fundraising dinners for your alma mater and vacationing in Belize. And don't even worry about that pesky paycheck you'll be losing. Just go down and pull some money out of your investment accounts...just like me! Think of it as "Spring Break" in the news biz. Maybe head on down to Ft. Lauderdale or the islands.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't pay ANY attention to this unionization stuff. I'm going to screw those guys over too. Just as soon as I get done putting and laughing over how many more of your jobs I'm going to cut. Pretty soon, the janitors will be putting out the papers on a copy machine! Won't THAT be a hoot!!
Love, Craigy
Writing in from The Back Nine
Well, looks like newspapers could get a bailout...if they become non-profits.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Gannett already a "non-profit"...
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/03/25/newspapers_could_get_nonprofit_status/
I think Craig and Barack are related. Neither has a clue as to what goes on in the real world.
ReplyDelete10:48am said "If you just do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."
ReplyDeleteWell put! Employees of Gannett, you need to do something different. Alone, Gannett controls you, manipulates you. They want it this way. It's to their benefit. It's why Dubow can say "furlough" to you and $875,000 bonus to me.
I tend to agree with 1:23. I think the furloughs are being used by the higher ups to evaluate where the company can create more "efficiencies," so to speak.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone miss Craig when he was on furlough?
ReplyDeleteAfter hours--Gannett is doing a nose dive---Sell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!---Or Krista Mueller to the rescue !!!!! In that case--double sell!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteInsurance should continue for a few more weeks after your severance ends. My severance ended on Feb. 5, but my insurance continued until the 28th.
ReplyDeleteShortly after that I received my COBRA letter. They send you the premiums -- you can opt for yourself, you and child, you and spouse. It is very costly.
My letter says I have until April 28 to pick up plan under COBRA.
I think everyone should quit complaining. Either suck it up and deal with the furloughs or find a new job. There are jobs out there.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 4:28.
ReplyDeleteSame drivel, different day.
I bet the company is testing efficiencies or economies of scale with these furloughs.
ReplyDeleteThis is the age of the analyst (anal-yst). It's the analysts who control the stock market. It's the "analysts" on news shows and blogs that seem to be the new providers of "facts." It's the analysts working in government who come up with information that affects decision-making. Do you think a U.S. senator actually analyzes anything? Or even the president? No, they pay people to do it for them.
So GCI must be using furloughs as some kind of metric. Say, for example, a copy desk short by two people on furlough still hits its deadlines, what does that tell you? First, the people left behind are the strongest workers, most capable of picking up the slack. It's not necessarily that the pressure wasn't ramped up to breaking point with two people down, but it seems GCI may not be so worried about that lately.
I worked as a typist for some of the professors at my college one summer. An economics professor kept piling the work on me, more than anyone else. This is back when you had to type mimeographs and use carbons! He said to me one day, "You do good work, and you do it fast. That's why you get the most work."
I thought, well, maybe I should slow down so I'm not going crazy every day. But that's just wasn't my style. A year later, I got my first newspaper job and doing good work, fast, came in handy.
Keep working really hard no matter how angry you are. You'll be better off no matter what.
Jim:
ReplyDeleteYour indignant gay man response is not going to stop these posts.
Until you make wholesale changes to this blog, including requiring some accountability and credibility and some basic level of writing skill, we are going to keep coming back.
Either change immediately or face a daily onslaught of criticism.
Part time workers don't get insurance, paid vacations or sick days. They are paid less hourly than the full time workers for doing the same job. Many work longer hours than the full time
ReplyDeleteemployees. But no benefits.
Gannett sucks
Part time workers don't get insurance, paid vacations or sick days. They are paid less hourly than the full time workers for doing the same job. Many work longer hours than the full time
ReplyDeleteemployees. But no benefits.
Gannett sucks
@4:42
ReplyDeleteooh, a Blogimatum.
I suppose you'll spam us to death?
You surely must be a middle micro-manager. They are not an endangered species.
This just in: USAT only top 15% of incomes are required to take a second unpaid week.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20090325&ID=9720246&Symbol=GCI
As a part-timer for Gannett, we do get paid vacations...at least those of us in our information center.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today always catches a break. That's why it's hated throughout the company. Layoffs don't hit as hard. Salary freezes are rare. They've been pampered for years, often at the expense of the community dailies (remember the "loaner" program?). Look at their building compared to most of GCI properties! Lots of new equipment in there. I don't think they know what a 5-year-old computer looks like. But we're all made to believe that everyone is sacrificing. Yea, right.
ReplyDeleteHere's another Gannett management riddle to chew on: Why, in 2005, did the company opt to give up Boise, Olympia and Bellingham -- all extremely profitable newspapers in growth markets -- to obtain the Detroit Free Press. The Free Press has been a money loser from day one of Gannett ownership -- a complete disaster. These are the kind of management decisions that are worth discussion on this blog. Too many people here simply don't have the sophistication to deal with the real blunders made by the company.
ReplyDeleteYet more unbelievable, and now the pampered few at USA Today are added to the list of those exempt from these company-wide layoffs and "temporary" wage reductions. USA Today is wheezing from this advertising retraction and wouldn't make it without the subsidies pumped into it from community newspapers. These pampered few get free gyms and subsidized restaurant meals, and don't even have to pay for parking when they go to work.
ReplyDelete5:54 pm: I think most if not all pay employees at USA Today pay market rates for gym time, and for meals. They may still be subsidized, not I don't think they're free.
ReplyDelete5:54,
ReplyDeleteGet the facts Jack!
Gym membership runs $35 per month (which is great) ...and even though the cafetaria may be subsidized, lunch runs $5 - $7 per day. Yes...very convenient....but those in the building are paying!!
Last I checked there is a Gannett tower too....your bellyaching cracks me up and illustrates how misinformed you truly are.
This is funny...See how the French do it!!
ReplyDeleteWorkers at a French factory of U.S. industrial conglomerate 3M were holding their boss captive to protest planned layoffs, in the latest sign of growing public anger at rising unemployment in France.
Afterall, with Obama inboffice, we are Socialists.
Hey, douchebag @5:54 PM, the pay freeze at USAT wasn't announced this time around because that went into effect in January. We've already been frozen, you dolt. Our gym memberships are not subsidized, and if the cafeteria is, I'd bet that the company makes up for that subsidy in the volume of people who grab lunch and head back to their desks, rather than fart around in Tysons traffic. BTW, pricing on both the gym and the food has increased over the last year.
ReplyDeleteI love all these "pampered" USAT/corporate comments. If you think we have it so great, why not get a job here yourself?
Gym is $30 per month. Anyone anywhere pay that for a health club?
ReplyDeleteJust off ajc.com:
ReplyDeleteAJC to cut 30 percent of news staff
Newspaper to eliminate distribution to 7 outlying counties
STAFF REPORT
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Wednesday it will cut its full-time news staff by about 90 people, or nearly 30 percent, to lower costs as it tries to regain profitability amid a severe revenue slump.
The company also announced it will eliminate distribution to seven more outlying counties, reducing its circulation area to 20 metro Atlanta counties, effective April 26. The cutback will pare daily and Sunday circulation by 2 percent.
(Note taken from lower in story: The areas losing circulation include Athens, Ga., home of the University of Georgia.)
The AJC’s news staff will drop to about 230 full-time positions, down from about 323 currently. Staff members with five or more years with the company will be offered voluntary buyouts, with layoffs to follow if they don’t achieve the targeted cuts, the company said.
Most of the news staff cuts “will be in production and management, allowing us to keep as many news reporters as possible,” AJC and ajc.com editor Julia Wallace said.
The cuts are expected to be completed in May.
The company laid off 48 part-time news staffers Tuesday and announced the full-time cuts Wednesday morning.
I work for USA TODAY and trust me, we're not pampered. We are dealing with the same wage freezes, furloughs and pay cuts as everyone else. And for those of us not based in Tysons (guess what? That's a whole lot of us!), neither our gyms nor our food are subsidized. And our salaries are not adjusted for price differential based on the city where you live. This situation sucks for everyone. It's not like I'm spending my first (or second) furlough skiing in St. Moritz or partying with Bono.
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ReplyDeleteRE: AJC...This must have made the all-time WITCH Julia very, very happy. She is truly a horrible and evil person.
ReplyDeleteCome on, Jim, don't become part of the USA TOday coverup. The market price for gyms like Gold's Gym in Arlington is $60 a month. USAT charges $30. You also know that the prices for meals at the restaurant at USA Today headquarters is substantially less than any of the restaurants in Tyson's Corner or the Galleria three blocks away. (And there's no traffic light, or traffic between USA Today and the Galleria.).
ReplyDeleteStory on Drudgereport on how the angry masses are hitting back at an RBC banker by vandalizing his home:
ReplyDeletehttp://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5974253.ece
WAPO's Chairman - Don Graham's salary information. Gannett exec's should take notice! http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003955534
ReplyDeleteUSA Today sucks its amazing people still read that crap. Must be nice to atleast have a gym and a cafeteria, instead of a sidewalk and snack machine. The sidewalk is nice though because it's free., a tad cold and slippery in the winter tho.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the employee cost for health care premiums is based upon the earnings of the prior year? I think it may be based upon your annual salary at the time of enrollment.
ReplyDelete@5:42pm - Yes, there are plenty of computers on the Corp side at least 5 years or more out of date -our very small group has 3! I can't think of anyone who has gotten upgraded in the last year and we keep recycling former co-workers stuff (monitors, cpus, etc...)
ReplyDeletealso, @ 8:18 - umm - I hope you were being snarky b/c otherwise, you are talking out the side of your ear. 3 blocks to the Galleria? Try 10, or more in "city" terms. I was looking forward to all the great choices working near the mall was going to bring - ha! To drive, get through traffic (and regardless of how you go, you have to go through at least 2 lights) park & get your food has taken me over an hour at times. I bring a lunch from home now.
Also, in regards to the gym fees - they are on par with some of the smaller clubs in the area (Curves comes to mind).
To get to the Galleria from USA Today. Leave USAT parking lot, turn left on Jones Branch, turn left on Park and drive up two blocks, turn left into the Galleria parking lot. No lights.
ReplyDeleteThey are eliminating inside classified postions. Are they centralizing at one site?
ReplyDeleteBob – You’re underestimating Jim's readers as more than a few could easily keep up.
ReplyDeletePlus, don’t forget GCI's other significant MI moves around that time, in part to keep JRC’s Jelenic from further expanding his operations by obtaining yet another MI newspaper group away from GCI’s sights in 2004. Hence, GCI pursued and purchased HCN(which included a group of Cincinnati weeklies), though the DOJ delayed that until early 2005.
Regardless, MI’s economic decline was well underway by then. Yet JRC, GCI and others were still paying high-multiples to win deals, the values of which near and/or easily beat today’s market caps of those who made them.
Word is corporate HR lackeys are snooping around Tucson. Possible buyer to look over shoulders in the newsroom - sorry, IC - next week.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know what's going on?
@8:50 PM, there's another big difference between Don Graham and GCI's top tier: Don is deadly honest. Yes, he's smart, but he's a decent person as well, and it shows in how he treats people.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't the AJC announcement sound like Cox isn't preparing a turnaround anytime soon?
ReplyDeleteMake Charlie Nutt editor of USA Today!
ReplyDeleteWhy the attack on USAT? I don't work there, but c'mon. You're complaining because people get a gym membership for $30 a month.
ReplyDeleteIt is OK, after all, for a company to offer some perks to employees. I don't live in Virginia, but I pay $30 a month for a very nice gym. I can also buy lunch at the non-subsidized cafe at my site for $5 to $7 a day. And I can use the company gym free of charge. Granted it's not very nice, but I can run on a treadmill or lift weights during my break, and it doesn't cost me a penny.
Clearly, there are slackers at every work site. But it's not easy to get a job at USAT. It's one of the largest papers in the country. It's arguable that a few perks should come with that.
After all, I expect you would want a raise and a perk or two if you were offered a job at the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times or USAT. In the media, people at bigger operations with bigger circulation numbers have long made more money than people at small operations.
You're not figuring that out just now are you?
If, indeed, things are better at USAT, that's a good sign. Why would you want the company to further rape any property? So you would have absolutely no hope of bettering your working conditions?
8:40--- not to worry, Craig will get his. I've been running some reconnaisance, and have found at least one skeleton in his closet that I'm sure the board and all over you out there in Gannett land would love to know about. Not too worry, you'll be able to read about it in the NYT.
ReplyDeleteAlso for you pro-unionization people out there, not too worry, help is on the way. I'll post contact information in the next few days for regional efforts. For now, hang in there, we're on our way.
I'm a part-timer, make (and live more than comfortably on) less than 15,000 a year in my "wages" from Gannett. Its not hard, it just takes some creativity and a lack of greed and lust for material possessions. I know most of you can't easily find the same enlightenment as I have, and for you I wish you peace. Remember, you are not your house, you are not your car, you are not the Ikea crap cluttering the cabin.
And to Jim, I'd send you $5, but I need it to buy more seeds for my victory garden. Perhaps I should use it on ammunition instead, but hunting season's a bit off still and my cabin is a bit cluttered as it is...
Oh yeah, and my gym membership is only $5 a month. It helps to live in the same town you went to grad school in and are still able to partake in the alumni bene's...
One more thing, for all those laid off already that want so desperately to get your jobs back with Gannett, I have just one question. Why not try prostitution? You bent over and took it well for all those years you were with Gannett, what's stopping you from making the logical jump from whoring out your skills to spreading your legs?
Ok, what is all this talk about different health insurance premiums based on your annual salary??? At the newspaper I work at, we all pay the same premiums regardless of annual salary; the only difference in premiums would be based on choosing among the different health plans offered. It sounds like your newspaper has a really f'd up health plan.....
ReplyDelete3/25/2009 12:35 PM
12:35, it actually can be a good thing and can actually be made to work in your favor if you're a dual-income household, if you're smart about what you're doing.
I know I've been taking full advantage for four or five years now.
2:25 - Are you sure you have enough ammunition? When the black helicopters come to discuss your victory garden, you'll want to be sure to put on a really good barbecue out there on Ruby Ridge....
ReplyDeleteSheesh. At least the whack jobs are more literate here than on USAT forums...
Gee...it's so refreshing to see the whole Hating on USAToday thing hasn't changed one bit. And it's as ridiculous as the hating between the Jersey papers. We're ALL in the shit! Do you seriously think the USAT people are living the high life and we're all alone, drowning in the muck? They are no better off than the rest of us because, at the end of the day, we ALL still work for the same boss...GANNETT. And they aren't going to survive GCI's lack of growth in this techno-news world any better than anyone else. All they may do is eek a few months more paychecks out of it.
ReplyDeleteBig freaking deal they have a gym subsidy?? We get one too...it's called Power Walking The Unemployment Line! And they'll be walking it with us real soon.I find it stupid that even though we're ALL getting screwed by the exact same company, we have energy to give each OTHER crap!
And, BTW, if some of you are so disgusted by the "drivel" on Jim's blog...WHY do you bother to read it and post to it?!?
"You also know that the prices for meals at the restaurant at USA Today headquarters is substantially less than any of the restaurants in Tyson's Corner or the Galleria three blocks away."
ReplyDeleteYes, but the food isn't as good as restaurant food. We just grab food at the cafeteria for sustenance and so we can get back to our desks right away and work more. I don't want to be at work any later than I have to, so I'd rather get food there than drive to the mall. We save time and money.
6:47--- Are you jealous? Are you a propagandist for Dubow and Co.?
ReplyDeleteJust because I don't embrace the consumerist lifestyle that you will so desperately cling to, doesn't mean I'm some whack-job conspiracy theorist.
I have ammunition to hunt. I know how to live off the land. When the economy truly collapses, and you are standing in a bread line with all the other schmoes out there, I'll be feasting on my food stores. Oh yeah, and good luck with the breakdown of social order and the lack of law enforcement to protect you.
Oh yeah, and when I get my expose on the moral failings of Mr. Dubow published, I think you'll be the first one licking my boots instead of his. That's right, I called you a boot licker. Anonymously too. What do you think of that? Go whine and take your meds, and come back when you have something better than an ad hominem attack.
By the way, my verification word is "nelon"... wonder if that rhymes with "felon"... paging Mr. Dubow...
Ad hominem attacks are perfectly acceptable logical devices when you're talking to a nutjob who wants to live off the grid but keep his internet access and manufactured niceties while telling the rest of about his tell-all book.
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