Note: I'm reposting this to the homepage. I originally published it June 23, suggesting how long management has been keeping you in the dark. It appears below, exactly as originally written.
I've heard from a single source, so take this with a grain of salt:
Then: Most if not all laid-off employees got health insurance at existing rates for as long as they collected severance checks.
Now: Will those laid off have to pay much higher COBRA-size rates for medical benefits from the moment they get, uh, severed?
Corporate knows the answer, but chief publicist Tara Connell won't even discuss with me whether big layoffs are coming July 8.
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.
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Jim,
ReplyDeleteOf course she won't. Even if she was inclined to do so in the first place, why would she make an effort now, after you've so loudly proclaimed your lame duck status?
The only reason I visited is that I'm on furlough and want to find out if I'll still be employed in a couple weeks.
This site is officially dead, by your own hand. Hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes.
For one thing, she does claim to be returning to journalism -- or has ContentOne already bitten the dust?
ReplyDeleteSo many questions about ContentOne...
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is ContentOne?
Is it a division of Digital?
Is it a technology?
Who works there?
Do they generate revenue?
Do the produce anything?
Do they interact with other divisions?
Do they interact with local sites?
Do they write content?
It is true that layoffs/buyouts usually get worse in the later rounds for most companies. This would be in keeping with that.
ReplyDeleteGannett really can't handle another mass layoff and even pretend it's in the news business.
So Jim, what does that have to do with anything? You've obviously burned your bridges with anyone on her floor. Why should she even notice you any more?
ReplyDeleteIn the past, they've given laid off people a week's pay for every year worked. Anyone heard whether that will be the case this time? I'm very doubtful.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way or reason anybody at corporate would respond to a question regarding something everybody seems to know about but hasn't been acknowledged by corporate.
ReplyDeleteHere's something to look for within a couple days of the expected July 8 layoffs- A plan. Unless layoffs are extremely minor, somebody should be communicating a corporate and individual location plan. While I don't think the company can sustain a 10% layoff (except for the financial reporting short-term), a 10% layoff should be immediately followed by a very specific and detailed plan for going forward.
This blog will end in a flurry the 8th, 9th and 10th following layoffs and I'd like to again thank Jim for his hard work.
I know one Gannett TV station that recently laid off a few long-time employees with *no* severance. The head-count at that station is now down 20% from two years ago.
ReplyDelete9:45 AM got it exactly right. Jim pissed away any credibility with his antics before, during and after the the shareholders' meeting.
ReplyDeleteShut this blog down now. It's dead.
"I know one Gannett TV station that recently laid off a few long-time employees with *no* severance...
ReplyDelete6/23/2009 1:07 PM"
Not true for me, an ex-broadcast employee (got laid-off 1 month ago). I got 1 week per years worked severance package.
See comment re Broadcast pay cuts of up to 6% on the daily thread. . . Apparently at least in Broadcast this will replace furloughs in 3rd/4th quarter. But it appears to be permenant cuts. No idea if the newspaper people got one too.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, 2:26pm. The no-serverance ones I know about were last week.
ReplyDelete9:45 a.m. is fibbing; no one's on furlough this week. Guess the trolls are back. ...
ReplyDeleteWord is 9 will be cut in Shreveport, but no specifics yet. Rumor some are taking voluntary layoffs.
ReplyDeleteLouisiana copy desk consolidation plan moves forward, memo from Leslie Hurst:
All,
I am pleased to announce the leadership team of the Gannett Louisiana Content Production Center, the formation of which was announced in May. The center will be housed at The News-Star in Monroe.
--- Jeff Benson, content delivery editor at The Times in Shreveport, will lead the center. Jeff brings more than 10 years' management experience to the position and a vast knowledge of applications, processes and workflows used in print and digital production. He was named The Times’ Newsroom Manager of the Year in 2006.
--- The assistant editors will be Shannon Coleman, assistant managing editor/night operations at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette and the Daily World in Opelousas; and Bill Beene, deputy news editor at The Times in Shreveport. Both have extensive experience in news management roles and at several of our Gannett Louisiana newspapers.
This exceptional group of editors will report to Kathy Spurlock, executive editor in Monroe. I’m confident that their talents and teamwork will help ensure the center’s success. Please join me in congratulating Jeff, Shannon and Bill!
The consolidated center will be responsible for editing, headline writing and pagination of our five Louisiana daily newspapers, as well as other publications and special sections now produced by the copy desks at each site. The center will start producing the Lafayette, Opelousas and Monroe newspapers on July 20. Shreveport will join the center in August, and Alexandra will join in September.
- Leslie Hurst
It's fairly typical for dying companies to cut benefits in every round of layoffs/buyouts. That's something for every survivor to think about. Each round of layoffs means your job gets harder and that your future with the company is ever more bleak -- and that if you get booted out the door in a subsequent layoff wave, you will be punished for your loyalty.
ReplyDeleteI think it's incumbent on EVERYONE to imagine and plan for a post-Gannett life. Don't live in denial. You don't want to be the one who has to turn out the lights at the end. And remember how the company is 'rewarding' the loyalty of its employees.
10:44, re ContentOne questions:
ReplyDeleteYou'll find out soon enough
No
No
GNS survivors and more than a dozen others who came from Digital and USAT
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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ReplyDelete10:04, I hope the consolidation works better there than it has in NJ. In New Jersey, it's resulted in the same story being printed twice in the Asbury Park Press on a number of occasions -- in both news and sports.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere in the process, communication and proofing seem to have gone out the window. The paper was falling apart as it was, but now it has become a laughingstock in the community. And every time someone complains to me about it, I shudder, because I know there are some good people there who are being dragged down in the quicksand of overwork and mediocrity. And a little piece of my heart dies each time.
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ReplyDelete