It sickens me to see the leaders in this company rewarded for throwing me out of a profession that I gave a good portion of my life to. The fact that they prosper and sleep well at night while I and many others still look for work are indications of how evil they are. Do these heartless people know how hard it is to find work in one's 50s? The layoffs of 2008 and 2009 were morally criminal and will leave a stain on Gannett for many years. I lost my job, my friends, my house and my sense of purpose. My family has suffered, too. I never made much money in the newspaper biz, but I never thought it would end this way. It's been virtually impossible to find my way back into the profession despite years of experience. I am close to giving up. The fact that Gannett targeted a lot of experienced employees might have been good for business in that we earned a bit more than entry-level workers, but it has devastated so many people who have nowhere to turn anymore and have run out of hope and options.
A look in someone's eyes. A cardboard box on an empty desk. A final conversation. 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.
At first I was pleased that publisher Mike Fisch "invited" me to a meeting. After all, I'd been with Gannnett a long time, and the last time I had any contact with a publisher was back when Joe Ungaro was at the helm. HE was a publisher like no other.
ReplyDeleteThus I was horrified to learn that I, like friends in their 50s who told me what happened at their respective companies, was "laid off" as of that Friday and had to reapply for a job at the Journal News. I wasn't told the hours, wages or location, so three important options were missing. The job titles were nebulous at best, and after several discussions with friends in the field (not at Gannett) and family, I opted out and left at the end of August.
I made the best possible decision for me under the worst possible circumstances to make that decision. We were given two days to choose two jobs for which to apply, and we were told we could opt out of the process at any time before we were interviewed. I left with my dignity, lots of references, and I made copies of my clips, then converted them to pdf files.
My byline is my byline.
53 years old here. 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.
ReplyDeleteI never had a bad review. Not at Gannett or any of the other papers I worked for. I learned all the new technologies. Never had any phobias about change.
Yet, because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and worked for a horribly disloyal human being, my life is in shambles and I essentially have no future to look forward to. Retirement will not be possible unless I win the lottery.
I have applied to hundreds of jobs and have received a handful of interviews, mostly on the phone. I get the impression these employers contacted me just to satisfy some HR mandate to contact older applicants as a way of shielding themselves from age discrimination suits.
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.
It's a terrible situation. Not to alarm anyone, but in many ways I hope I don't live a long life. Don't want to burden anyone. I've always been a self-reliant guy. But no more.
Gannett would have served us better to get rid of us at an age where would could have done something else. Now we're stuck. No money. No job. No way to rebuild.
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?
Yeah, in my Gannett shop, some of the layoff victims of the last two years did get their jobs back. It happened because we're unionized.
ReplyDelete