Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday | May 28 | Your News & Comments
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51 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'm not that young and it wouldn't take much of a pay cut to convince me to quit. I make pretty good money for a journalist, and it's nothing compared to what people in most professions are making.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm only planning to stay with Gannett another six months or so, as I've got other things in the works.
So, maybe paycuts make sense. They'll get rid of the people who were planning to leave anyway, but they'll get them off the books even quicker. Won't be pretty for those left behind. But, hell, it's not pretty now.
(Then why don't they have people take a four day work week on days that won't interfear with production of the paper. Some get Fridays off, other's get Monday's off. Spread out the furlough days. An across the board salary reductions will certainly cause a mass exodus. I know for a fact the younger workers (the ones that Gannett is counting on to save them) WILL leave. Most live at home or don't have to worry about benefits, vacation, etc. I cam guarantee they will leave ASAP. I work with all younger workers and I hear how they feel. They want to make money and know they aren't making it at Gannett. Most have wealthy families that will carry them over til they get another job. You might want to reconsider this move Craig.
2. Gannett management has contemplated another set of furloughs possibly for Q3, but since this will interfere with unused vacation, they will most likely perform a series of salary reductions.)
1:15 am: and please tell ua, why should we listen to you, especially on item 2? I think you are just speculating. That's one of the things that has hurt this blog.
ReplyDeleteThursday, May 14, 2009
ReplyDeleteMichigan still working on state employee furlough plan
Associated Press
Lansing -- The state of Michigan still is trying to determine exactly how it will schedule furlough days for roughly 38,000 of its employees.
The move is expected to save the state about $21.7 million. It is part of a plan to eliminate a projected $1.3 billion budget deficit in an executive order issued last week by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
More than half of the state's 53,000 state employees will be required to take at least six furlough days before Sept. 30. About 17,000 members of United Auto Workers Local 6000 may have up to nine furlough days because of contract provisions that call for the unpaid days to be consecutive.
To 5/27/2009 10:06 PM:
ReplyDeleteThere are legal considerations. I'd like to see your source and be able to verify your information. I doubt you took the time to speak to someone from both the federal and state levels.
A quick search on Google turns up the following article from www.law.com
___
Furloughs May Be Smarter Than Layoffs
Companies might prefer furloughs to downsizing, but they need to beware of certain pitfalls
Legal Times
March 5, 2009
More employers, however, are considering alternatives to layoffs. These alternatives allow employers to retain staff, particularly top talent and employees with institutional knowledge. Savvy employers understand that keeping tenured (and often loyal) employees on-board in anticipation of an inevitable upswing in the economy will also reduce the need to re-hire and re-train personnel -- a costly and timely endeavor.
REDUCING OPERATIONS
Employers often ask if they can reduce the pay and work schedule for employees classified as exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. For example, an employer may want to shut down one day a week -- Friday, for example -- and reduce its payroll costs by 20 percent. Such a plan works well for nonexempt employees, who are paid only for the hours they actually work. The question is trickier for exempt employees, however, who potentially could lose their overtime exemption through such a plan.
An employer also may not deduct compensation from an exempt employee's paycheck during a current pay period based on a reduction in work time. The reason is that exempt employees who perform any work during a workweek generally must receive their entire salary for that week, or risk losing the overtime exemption. Thus, if the company quickly decided last week to shut down for the day on Friday, cutting an exempt employee's current paycheck by 20 percent to reflect that Friday off could eradicate the overtime exemption.
(Warning: State law may change the result. For example, reducing exempt employees' schedules in combination with a salary deduction will defeat the overtime exemption, according to the California labor commissioner.)
Accordingly, a less risky alternative to reducing exempt employees' schedules may be simply to reduce their pay without dictating the hours they work. The downside, of course, is that without a corresponding reduction in schedule, exempt employees may become demoralized by the appearance of working the same amount for less pay.
GONE FOR THE WEEK
Because reduction of exempt employees' work hours poses significant legal risks and reduction of exempt employees' salary can be seriously demoralizing, employers might consider implementing furloughs or shutdowns on a workweek basis.
A furlough of exempt employees for an entire workweek would not jeopardize the exemption because an exempt employee is not entitled to a weekly salary for any week in which no work is performed. Accordingly, it is best that any furloughs be for full weeks that coincide with the workweek to reduce the risk of losing exempt status.
If implemented correctly, this is the safest option. But there are risks:
Absolutely no work permitted
A problem may arise where exempt employees perform seemingly insignificant "work" while on furlough. The popularity of BlackBerrys and ease of remote connections or voicemail makes it likely that exempt employees may use these tools to "work" while on furlough. The performance of such minimal work, if "suffered" by the employer, creates an obligation to pay the exempt employee's full salary.
To avoid this problem, employers should inform exempt employees in writing that no work is authorized during the furlough period without express advance written approval. The discretion to authorize work should be limited to one or two high-level executives to minimize the potential that exempt employees perform work during the shutdown.
___
There is more to the article and more like this one. It seems very clear there are laws and guidelines.
Here's a topic I'd like to see discussed here:
ReplyDeleteWho has seen and experienced their newspaper or TV station manipulate news or knowingly twist editorials to benefit a political purpose or candidate? A commercial interest?
This site is a great place to gather such accounts, on or off the record. I think history will show this erosion of objective American news ethics to be as much or more a factor in the downfall of old media than the way people read in the electronic age.
For our UK brethren, please compare and contrast.
The bigger papers are the worst for wasting money, and the union papers are the worst of the worst papers out of all of them......unions are the ones that bring all of the rest of us down, anywhere from the newsroom, pressroom and mailers and production support in general.
ReplyDeleteIn larger papers 150,000 circ and up there is a lot of fat, lots and lots.
If you happen to work at a large paper just take a look around today and question what is going on...
Like what does this person really do?
Why do I see them all day long doing nothing?
Why do they always get smoke breaks?
Why do they get to watch TV?
The questions can go on and on, its so simple to fix but the local management don't do sh+t
Ok folks have a great day!
7:31:
ReplyDeleteThe bias is both conscious and unconscious. Since so many reporters and editors lean Democratic and left, there are times they have a blind spot.
Example at my NJ paper - anytime a Republican got caught with his/her hand in the cookie jar, you can be sure GOP was right there in headline. If the perp was a Democrat, well, you'd be hard pressed to ID them as such in the story. Once a young reporter who covered the conviction of a noted Democrat admitted to me he hadn't even thought putting the political affiliation in the story.
Then there ARE the conscious decisions. There were times I would ID some wrongdoer as a Democrat in the lede, only to pick up the paper the next day to see it had been taken out. I'd yell at the desk, they'd promise it wouldn't happen again...until the next time. And the next.
Were there wholesale plots to undermine GOP candidates? No. The bias is much more subtle and much more insidious than that.
Motley Fool :
ReplyDeleteTitanic flops
But it's not just the financials -- consistently poor execution at iconic American businesses like General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Gannett (NYSE: GCI) has sent both stocks down to single digits, with few signs of them returning to their former glory. These century-old companies employ tens of thousands and had plenty of access to capital, but simply failed to perform well over the years
http://tinyurl.com/qyjxjj
Jim, please do not shut down this blog I can honestly state that as a Gannett employee I enjoy this blog more than my daily paper. I read this blog every morning but I cannot say the same about our paper
ReplyDeleteI really hope someone can produce another Gannett blog with as much journalistic ability as Jim. In fact, I hope the next Gannett blog digs deeper and reveals the gross mismanagement at all levels in this company, not just in the CEO or publishers' offices. Newspapers from the smallest community dailies to USA Today have a collection of some of the most petty, insecure and spiteful managers I've ever seen in any business. People without an ounce of integrity and folks who do nothing but protect themselves while throwing others overboard for purely selfish reasons. Those are the more common stories I'd like to have some blog reveal. These managers are a menace and impact operations on a daily basis. They continually misread situations, exercise poor judgment or are so negligent in their duties that one has to wonder how they survive. Some pretend to be everyone's friend. In some ways, those are the most devious editors in Gannett. They smile and tell you everything is fine one day, then lower the boom the next. Amazing that some people still don't understand why there is so much mistrust in this company! Look at the managers, not just the execs.
ReplyDeleteTwo ways to view people who try to sneak in some work during furlough:
ReplyDelete1) Good for them; committed to their profession and unwilling to step away. They hate not getting paid, but not enough to let the product suffer.
2) What are they thinking? So clueless they will let the company exploit their talents even though they're not being paid.
Count me in the first category. I despise the furloughs, but not enough to not keep my hand in.
In fact, I think how you answer this question helps define how rewarding a career you ultimately will have.
It's no surprise that at the 'top' levels some managers are being told they can agree to work without pay to keep the wheels turning. To many, that makes no sense at all.
But to me, I'd rather work with someone who is crazed about keeping projects going. I know that's technically wrong -- no pay, no work -- but I bet others share my view.
But what do YOU think?
Offered in the interest of discussion (while I'm on furlough but checking in)
Has anyone thought of making more sales calls?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteResponding to 10:39 AM. I've been asking the same question for years. At the Courier-Post in NJ there are so called sales people who draw large salaries and just sit around the place and do next to nothing at all!!
ReplyDeleteThere is plenty time for these people to engage in all forms of non productive personal crap but they continue to get away with this and have for years and years. At our newpaper there are too many "supverisors" (most of whom are clueless) who should be out pounding the streets all day every day generating ad sales rather than sitting around the office playing their pompous roles and following the lead of the incompetent advertising director who should have been dumped a long time ago. What everhappened to the requirement to generate business to far exceed expenses by person. The place is a joke and why the publisher cannot see this and do something is the primary question.
10:39 and 11:11am
ReplyDeleteMore sales calls? Advertisers are looking for new ways too market beyond newspapers and their websites. A sales rep goes after the business no matter what. Advertisers want to align their business with positive, contemporary products. Newspapers and their piss- poor websites are considered a losing medium.
to 10:21
ReplyDeleteI have been a dedicated employee for nearly 25 years and have put in a lot of unpaid hours in the past as a manager and as a worker bee without complaint. But for me or anyone to work on furlough is insane. Especially when it is obvious that the company is pissing money away in so many areas that are causing these furloughs to be necessary. So count me out. You can call me selfish if you want.
6:46 -- I'm 1:15 and I was just responding to a post that somebody else made yesterday. There's just no easy way to show that. I didn't write any of the part that was in brackets. So it's not verified, but it came from "My Boss Says ..." who has been right on a number of things in the past.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't take it as fact, though.
10:21 -- If Gannett has been good enough to you that you still love your job, I can't blame you for sneaking in a bit of work. I used to be like that.
ReplyDeleteBut ... in the last two years management has moved me away from doing the things that I do best for no apparent reason. In short, there's just no joy in the job anymore.
Do I work on furlough? Hell no. Do I work on the weekends? Only if I have no other choice. Do I put in a single hour of overttime? Only if I'm paid for it.
I hate to be like this, but it is the environment that Gannett has created. By cutting pay and benefits, they've made it abundantly clear that they don't see employees as people. They are numbers to be manipulated.
So, if I want to work during the hours that Gannett is not willing to pay me for, I do it on a freelance basis. That increases my bottom line the way GCI is increasing its bottom line.
While your outlook is admirable, I'm afraid it's only detrimental to the average employee. The more people that Gannett can find to work free of charge, the lower wages will be for everyone. I know times are tough, but I don't think this is the time to bow to corporate goons. Companies like Gannett may be profitable, but it has stripped most of its products to the point that they carry very little value anymore. And any successful businessperson will tell you that the key to long-term success is producing products that people want and that have value. One way to do that is with dedicated employees, but I'm afraid you are a rarity these days.
Actually, let me amend my post.
ReplyDeleteThere are THREE ways to view people who try to sneak in some work during furlough:
1) Good for them; committed to their profession and unwilling to step away. They hate not getting paid, but not enough to let the product suffer.
2) What are they thinking? So clueless they will let the company exploit their talents even though they're not being paid.
3) They're breaking the rules! I was told we were not allowed to read emails or do any work of any kind, so of course that's the rule and we should all follow it.
Count me in the first category. I despise the furloughs, but not enough to not keep my hand in.
In fact, I think how you answer this question helps define how rewarding a career you ultimately will have.
It's no surprise that at the 'top' levels some managers are being told they can agree to work without pay to keep the wheels turning.
Of course, to many employees that makes no sense at all.
But to me, I'd rather work with someone who is crazed about keeping projects going. My job is about me and my fulfillment.
I know that's technically wrong -- no pay, no work -- but I bet others share my view.
But what do YOU think?
Are you 1) 2) or 3)?
Offered in the interest of discussion (while I'm on furlough but checking in)
TO 5/28/2009 10:21 AM
ReplyDeleteI sure agree with you. I have trouble not staying connected to or thinking about different aspect of my area of responsibility on weekends, vacations and furloughs. I like what I am responsible for and wouldn't have it any other way. The last thing I want to do when I return from a furlough is spend a day dealing with all the buiilt up e-mails and I want to know what is going on.
When have something they want to advertise, they will call. It's not like ad salespeople actually have to sell.
ReplyDeleteJust saw memo on wall of convenience store from USA Today Circulation -- says price is going up to $2 on June 1.
ReplyDelete5/28/2009 10:56 AM
You must not be able to read - the New York Times is going to a dollar, not USAT. I sure hope Jim deletes this comment as it is just silly. I'd rather read song paradies than this drivel.
11:11 and 11:27, Both correct and somewhat related. While there are still some very qualified, skilled people throughout Gannett, the company has become lopsided with Managers protecting their jobs by appeasing their Managers and so on. Considering the dramatic decline in advertising, these Managers staff their departments with people who in turn appease them as productivity has been clouded by industry trends. Nobody's making goal, so Managers expect employees to be quiet, take orders and not make waves. Nobody's thinking outside the box (I hate that phrase) because it requires taking chances and nobody will do that. As the result, it's business as usual, trying to sell the same product with the same approach but fewer people doing it which means more clients losing contact with the medium. To make things worse, papers keep coming up with new sites, free distribution products and such which are presented to current advertisers as "better targeted" alternatives further distancing the ad dollars from the paper and as we've all seen, these products seem to come and go so frequently you're always selling the "new" one. Net result is a self-induced spiral diluting the value of the core products and ancillary offerings.
ReplyDeleteIt sucks that management at the local papers really show no empathy for the worker bees.We work awful hours for low pay and little or no benefits, and are told were lucky to have a job. The way they handle a problem with a store that constantly claims the papers weren't delivered or are stolen constantly is a joke. They just credit them the papers then complain that they are being credited to many papers or they ignore the situation. Never do they stop delivering to the store even if the store sells very few papers and constantly complains about delivery or service. Can't lose a dealer, only a worker were just considered Pee ons.
ReplyDeleteThis just in a parody based upon West Side Story. I thought all of us Gannettoids and Blog Readers could use a good laugh.. or cry as the case may be.
ReplyDeleteOne of the benefits of this blog was learnibf about Tiny URL!
http://tinyurl.com/c7plnd
Motley Fool lists Gannett under the subheading "Titanic Flops". Read all about it:
ReplyDeletehttp://alturl.com/w2de
Jim,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to see you go. Before I was laid off I would read your blog every day so that I could prepare for my lay off kiss off marching orders. Thank God I found work before that happened. With a smile on my face I walked away from a depressing, egotiscally ran company. This blog helped me alot. On ocassion I've returned to see how everyone is doing and I'm glad I'm gone. But sorry your going too. Good Luck. God Bless
Watching the stock over the past few days, it's been a roller coaster ride with heavy selling in the AM's a slow buy back during the afternoons.
ReplyDeleteOne could specualte that there is a transfer of confidence happening.
Reports are that financial institutions are selling off Gannett Stock...so the question is...who's buying?
Could there soon be a shift in the power hierarchy or even...the staging of a buy out of the company?
12:22 -- In case you haven't noticed USA Today is already $1. The memo is correct that it is going to $2.
ReplyDeleteTo 8:04 a.m.
ReplyDeleteI worked for two union dailies for a total of 17 years (newsroom) and never witnessed any of that. Everyone worked and worked hard every day. I worked for a NON-union paper in another corporate group and saw what you desribe on a regular basis. I am told that, despite the company making numerous layoffs, pulling out of coverage areas and shrinking the paper, one reporter (a "project" guy) just celebrated one year without a byline. That paper has kept several marginally productive and unproductive people and kissed off the hard workers. But it was non-union. It doesn't take a union card, just the willingness to kiss butt.
To 9:05 a.m. That sure can work the other way, too, if your publisher and editor are rabid Republicans. ...
ReplyDeletehttp://correspondents.theatlantic.com/james_warren/2009/05/shhhh_newspaper_publishers_are_quietly_holding_a_very_very_important_conclave_today_will_you_soon_be.php
ReplyDeleteMay 28 2009, 8:31AM
Shhhh. Newspaper Publishers Are Quietly Holding a Very, Very Important Conclave Today. Will You Soon Be Paying for Online Content?
There's no mention on its website but the Newspaper Association of America, the industry trade group, has assembled top executives of the New York Times, Gannett, E. W. Scripps, Advance Publications, McClatchy, Hearst Newspapers, MediaNews Group, the Associated Press, Philadelphia Media Holdings, Lee Enterprises and Freedom Communication Inc., among more than two dozen in all. A longtime industry chum, consultant Barbara Cohen, "will facilitate the meeting."
Yo 2:47, did I get that right, Union shops take pride in tehir work and work their asses off.
ReplyDeleteOh that's rich. Thanks for the great laugh.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
5/28/2009 2:32 PM said:
ReplyDelete"12:22 -- In case you haven't noticed USA Today is already $1. The memo is correct that it is going to $2."
Well, I work for USAT in the circulation department and helped adjust the price to $1 so I am well aware of the current price. There is no price increase on June 1 to $2.00. So, either the poster cannot read or they are confusing USAT with the New York Times.
3:54 If that is going to be a meeting where the newspaper industry sets prices, then I think the Justice Department anti-trust division might also be a party.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read all comments but meetings are being held now in La. group regarding a production hub.
ReplyDeleteGannett newspapers in Louisiana just learned that they will adopt a regional copydesk located in Monroe. Job losses at each newspaper. Other workers relocated to Monroe.
ReplyDeleteJust heard that Gannett newspapers in Louisiana are going to regional copydesk located in Monroe.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Hurst, Leslie
ReplyDeleteSent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 5:02 PM
To: TDA-ALL; ANI-everyone; Monroe-All; Shreveport-All
Subject: Louisiana's Copy Desks to Consolidate
All,
We’ve just announced to our Information Center copy desks at all five Gannett Louisiana sites that we will be moving to a consolidated operation in the next few months.
The new Content Production Center will be located in Monroe, and will be responsible for editing, headline writing and pagination of all five Gannett Louisiana newspapers, as well as other publications and special sections currently produced by individual copy desks at each site.
Every person who is now employed at Gannett Louisiana newspapers doing the work that will be done on the consolidated desk will be able to transfer to the new center. In addition to copy editing positions, three supervisory positions will be available in the consolidated center. Employees who decide not to transfer to the center will receive a severance package.
The center will launch July 13, with production of the Monroe, Lafayette and Opelousas newspapers. Shreveport will join the center in August and Alexandria will join in September.
By maximizing technology and locating personnel at one location, I am confident that the center will continue our proud tradition of quality for all of our newspapers.
- Leslie Hurst
Vice President
Gannett’s South Group
As this blog winds down, (great job Jim!), I've seen many of what looks like Gannett people supporting their company and rightfully so. They've taken issue with negative comments mentioned by laid-off posters and unhappy employees and again rightfully so. But I still haven't heard anything concrete or specific in support of Gannett, Management plans and vision or the quality of the product itself. People supported others who've received rings and in some cases supported their own ring awards yet there was no mention of what anybody did to warrant an award. In Phoenix, a Sr. VP received a ring after the Tribune reduced circulation increasing Republic circ 10,000+. Not to say circ managers aren't doing a good job, but much of what's currently being celebrated was the result of others' work long before the Sr VP came into power. In her marketing department, they've been doing a lot of eliminating of specialty publications the same Sr VP was responsible for. Interesting how a person can come from Reno to a paper 10 times larger, bring Reno ideas that fail in Phoenix and win an award in part for getting rid of them. A few years ago she probably won an award for "creating" them! So someone please tell me, what is being done of value? Jim, please let all responses get posted as time will tell the accuracy.
ReplyDeleteThis is so refreshing! No negative posts! We're back! Keep up the great work everyone. Lets continue to inform and suppport each other.
ReplyDeletegannettland is all about politics
ReplyDeletetake a look at all the "field reps" who still cling to 6 figure salaries while our friends lose their way.
this company must purge itself of the "management" group who can be described as nothing more than SS
but remember, all politics are local
10 most hated list would be nice too
10:39 am
ReplyDeleteYou can make sales calls until you are blue in the face, however if these little mom and pop businesses are SO struggling to even keep their lights on, there is NOTHING one can do to get money from them...
When you figure out how to get blood from a stone, PLEASE let me know!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what is happening on June 10?
ReplyDelete"Absolutely no work permitted
ReplyDeleteA problem may arise where exempt employees perform seemingly insignificant "work" while on furlough. The popularity of BlackBerrys and ease of remote connections or voicemail makes it likely that exempt employees may use these tools to "work" while on furlough. The performance of such minimal work, if "suffered" by the employer, creates an obligation to pay the exempt employee's full salary.
To avoid this problem, employers should inform exempt employees in writing that no work is authorized during the furlough period without express advance written approval. The discretion to authorize work should be limited to one or two high-level executives to minimize the potential that exempt employees perform work during the shutdown.
___
There is more to the article and more like this one. It seems very clear there are laws and guidelines."
Again folks.... this is a MYTH! I keep ready this and I challenge anyone out there to specify exactly what federal or even state wage and hour law prohibites "any work at all" during a furlough.
I have been told repeatedly when talking the federal and state employment offices that there are NO actual laws - everything Gannett is doing regarding the furlough restrictions is SELF IMPOSED!!! Maybe out of fear of suit or maybe because they THINK there is a wage and hour law... but there is not.
If anyone can quote the actualk law, PLEASE give it on this blog! I'd like to know for my own protection, too!
The good thing is that all the insane posts are gone. Once jim announced he was closing the blog, they went away. Funny, huh. Take it all with a grain of salt. No matter what the case may be — I'm thrilled that the gay hating insane people have left and now we can get back to Gannett as usual. It eases all our minds that we can now get back to business as usual. After this quarter we will need each more than ever for support. Keep up the great work and see everyone tomorrow. We are on the road to recovery — from negative comments, gay bashing and corporate BS. Hey — let's move forward without Gannett. Who needs them!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what is happening on June 10?
The Arizona Diamondbacks are playing the San Francisco Giants in Phoenix.
Do you know something else?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTo 11:27 on 5-28 : You're totally off the mark. I'm an advertiser. If you can show me that I can get maximum exposure for the lowest cost, I'm yours to the ends of the earth. Case in point: an ad in a paper costs $50 and brings me 2 customers. My cost per customer is lower than other medium. My advertising is waiting to be had. But I'm not going to give it to the ad rep I find, I'll give it to the ad rep who FINDS ME. Show some initiative. Duh!
ReplyDeleteDon't believe, everything you think.
ReplyDelete