These were suppose to be my prime earning years. Instead, I got laid off and have been out of work for about a year and a half. Exhausted all my unemployment. Savings will be gone in the next six months, maybe a year if I stretch it. . . . Despite having a wide range of skills and a vast managerial background, I have not had a single offer. I know I am not alone, but it still hurts. I've been willing to relocate, even though that wouldn't be easy. Still, I can't find anything in or outside of the industry. Non-newspaper jobs aren't as willing as they once were to take a chance on people wanting to transition to other professions. That's a simple fact. Not a reflection of me or my efforts. . . . I get upset when I hear the word layoff. Layoffs always meant that when conditions improved, competent ex-employees would be rehired. Does anyone know of a single layoff victim who has been rehired by Gannett? Any over the age of 50?
A cardboard box on an empty desk. A final conversation. Job applications and phone calls going unanswered. Please share your layoff story in three or four paragraphs. Post replies in the comments section, below. Or e-mail via jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
If any of Gannett's directors on the board are reading this: You rewarded the top executives for laying off thousands of people just like this.
ReplyDeleteyes
ReplyDeleteThat is my story as well, Anonymouse, only I am 57 and age-discrimination is even worse - if it can be. Thanks Gannett.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to make sense out of the board's actions. I can't figure out how in the world they could donate to charities one day and reward Dubow and others for contributing to the downfall of our country (massive layoffs of mostly older workers) the next. It just defies common sense. Is there a single board member who will stand up and say "This is not right. I quit?"
ReplyDeleteI can understand that sometimes businesses have to lay off people. But those layoffs should be done with a great deal of caution, compassion and hand-wringing. I get the feeling that our top management simply cast aside employees as if they were things that cost the company money. If Dubow, Martore, etc., had any sense of decency or regret about having to lay off so many good people, they NEVER would have accepted those bonuses. NEVER. If I were in their shoes and were forced to lay off people to keep the business afloat, I would have found a way to give them some kind of severance pay (and I don't mean transition pay), and I certainly would not accept ANY kind of bonus as a "job well done" for laying off thousands of people. It's just sick to accept money for upending so many people's lives. "I saved the company $X, and now I'm going to take back some of the money I saved and put it in my own pocket." How does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteI know of one guy who was laid off from the Courier-Post advertising dept and got hired back.
ReplyDeletePeople 40 and over are supposed to be in a protected class---like it or not. Until that changes, people 40 and over at Gannett should be treated differently than those under 40. Yep. They're treated differently. they're kicked to the curb. Gannett is wrong everytime it prints something about "young, fresh, etc." That would be just like the company touting "white-skinned, male" in recruitment and hiring materials.
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting for the ax to fall on us. Ad consolidation, you know. No one will tell us anything. I have some plans in the works, and if they go through, I'm jumping ship. If you were a religious person you would say this company is run by Satan's goons. If you are an atheist, well, you can only say this company is run by a massive waste of skin and human organs. The head honchos in this company have no moral, ethical, compassionate bones in their bodies. All they care about is the all mighty dollar lining their own pockets, any way they can. They keep all of their sites in the dark as long as they can so they don't have a mass exodus out the door. If people only knew what they were planning. We know. Our local paper will maybe have one page for local info, and all the other pages are going to be national, maybe from US Today or something, where they can fire (layoff haha) as many people as they can. There are very few reporters left, there is not any journalism coming out of Gannett's properties any more. At our site if we hear sirens and we ask what is going on, we get a blank stare and the stock answer "we don't know". Horrible, sad.
ReplyDeleteDo you think a class action lawsuit is in order? They are also making life so hard on us older ones to force us out. I come home in tears everyday, my stomach is killing me. The young bloods get the best territories (advertising) What to do --- What to do---
ReplyDeleteI am 52 with what I am told are great credentials. No one expected I'd be out of work for very long after my layoff. But great credentials mean very little at this age, in this economy and with the mindset of media companies like Gannett.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I've become just another lost newspaperman with virtually no future. Same story - burning up savings, losing house, tons of rejection emails pouring in. I have called everyone under the sun asking for help or a job lead. Registered on every web site. It hasn't done any good.
Yes, Gannett/USA Today should have taken much more care in who they let go. My former boss was a heartless SOB, pretty much disliked across the board. He shouldn't have been given the final say on my fate. He did not view my worth objectively. Everything with him was personal. Now I am looking straight into a black hole. I hope he rots.
Jim, no board member is reading any of this. They don't give a shit. They pad their own wallets off the sweat of the people who actually produce value for the company, without providing any value themselves. If they had consciences, they wouldn't be on the board. It's that simple.
ReplyDelete10:25 pm: At least one board member has been reading comments in the past; I know this because I corresponded with that person occasionally.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was laid off in July '09, I was 48 y.o. with 14 yrs, one month and 4 days in Gannett. Being that most would think I was pretty high up on the food chain, pay wise. I was not. I started out as a copyentry/proofreader in the production dept at the APP in NJ. I think I was hired at like $10-$12 per hr, back in 1995. I gradually started building ads, being that I had a graphic design background and accepted the position to get in the paper. It took me 5 yrs before I was given the title of designer and with that a 30¢ per hr increase. Prior to that title change an ad rep went to bat for me and got me a $1 per hr increase from the Pres. of Production at that time. (These persons are no longer with Gannett). It was because she thought my talent exceeded what I was being compensated for and at 37 yrs of age I as still home with Mom, because I could not afford to move out.
ReplyDeleteEvery year my raise was below the then 3.8% max, always a reason for not giving the max, ie: lateness, calling out sick (always had a note from my doctor) never giving into account the quality or quantity of work I produced. Winning awards from the NJPA or accolades from sales reps or even a advertiser or two. Never.
Meanwhile there were others that walked around yakking, producing less and because they were there every day, got their nice increase. (They too were laid off eventually or offered a nice buy out because of their time with the company).
None the less, when I was laid off that July morning I was making a whole whopping $16.33 per hr. That's it. Pitiful, huh? And I was dignified and did not make a scene like the others that were laid off before me that morning. I had my box packed the week prior when we received the email from Dickey. Because I knew this... I was not young, I did not have any pull with anyone and I am talented. Thus, in Gannett's world... Goodbye. You would think being that I made considerably less than some other designers, they would keep me? No... and it had nothing to do with seniority, because people with more time and less time than I were laid off. And those that were still left after the July layoffs are out the door next month. They did however keep a young pretty gal that does the ads for a top account at the Press and will be or is doing a top account from the HNT. And she was hired years after the others and myself. Talented? Yes she is and patient with a very annoying advertiser. :) God bless her. I don't envy her at all. They other is an older guy, talented yes, nice guy... not really. Been known to doze off at his Mac too. ;) So, Gannett makes no sense and will never make any sense.
I am still unemployed and have not heard from anyone that I applied to. Hopefully this week I will. I applied at a Board of Education, for Teacher's Aide and a cafeteria workers positions. Because there is nothing out there in my field I am qualified for. I have only an A.A.S. degree in Graphic Design and no web design background (my paper appeased us with a little web training a few years ago). Sure I can go and have the state pay for a new education, so I can be one of many web designers competing for the same work? Competing against youngsters fresh out of college? Yeah, I look forward to that! Whatever.
Maybe this Production Center out in Indiana/Iowa will work, maybe it won't. If the later, I wonder if they ask any of us back... will we go back? Would I?... only if they paid me what I am really worth!
I know of one reporter in Asheville who was laid off last summer then recently rehired.
ReplyDeletei am 46 years old, almost 47, from the honolulu advertiser. we got our pink slips two weeks ago. gannett has sold us to our competitor and hundreds of jobs of loyal employees will be gone in the next month or two.
ReplyDeleteafter working here for 20 years and faithfully doing the best job i can, i feel like such a sucker.
i would help sell subscriptions to help, stayed late and came in on weekends to finish the job, not even using "online coupons" because we were told that it hurts our advertising..
and now this..we get sold and lose our jobs, among the top folks getting huge bonuses.
thanks for taking advantage of us, gannett.