Saturday, June 19, 2010

With pay freeze over, a question about your raise

The freeze ended for most if not all Gannett employees on April 1, when the U.S. newspaper division -- the company's biggest, with 24,700 employees -- canceled one that had been in effect for a year.

Now, Anonymous@4:58 p.m. asks an excellent question:

Are you getting a raise, and how much is it?*

* (Please express it as a percentage increase.)

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

40 comments:

  1. You're kidding, right?
    At Indianapolis we have a 10 percent pay cut -- voted for by our Guild, though I was among those who voted no. We will never get a raise; we will never make what we did. I think those who voted yes for the pay cut thought others in the paper would share the pain. But for those in the Guild, it's all pain, no gain. I am not a Gannett basher, and I think our publisher, all things considered, is doing his best and has his heart mostly in the right place. But this pay thing hurts.

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  2. Didn't management say, take this pay cut, or we'll lay off even more employees?

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  3. Since Dubow got a 17 percent pay hike, that's the amount I am expecting in my paycheck.

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  4. Yes - that contract was voted on in Indy right after the July 2009 layoffs, and threat of more layoffs was there. It's been lousy times for sure.

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  5. none in Florida

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  6. Good project. 2 % USCP. Last year it was of course zero.

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  7. I've never received more than a 2% raise in the 12 years I've worked for the company and after having only pay cuts (furloughs) I'm guessing I won't get a raise again this year.

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  8. I just got a .5 percent raise.

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  9. 2% pool, but only top performers get that much.

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  10. After 2 years and with lay offs increasing our work load, I received a .20 cent raise which they made a big deal out of. Of course, I still remain Gannett's lowest paid employee. And with health care costs already estimated to be going up on average 9% next, I am getting no where except deeper in debt.

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  11. I went from $94,200 to $97,450, but I don't know how to calculate percents. Can somebody help?

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  12. Jim,

    Our broadcast unit (non represented) took a 6% across-the-board cut. Represented took a 10% cut. Clearly unfair since certain perks such as the pension has long ago been frozen/eliminated. And with no raise in 2010. We now lag 12% behind. But inflation is flat? No!! I have seen no indication of any pay raises even though costs, especially housing, have risen in our market.

    Our station is up 26.8% year to year and about equal to 2007 minus any off year political.

    Sad times we live in.

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  13. At one of his visits to our TV station Dave Lougee told us that pay raises would be "targeted". I haven't seen or heard of any raises. I guess they are "targeted" at the folks in Virginia.

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  14. "I went from $94,200 to $97,450, but I don't know how to calculate percents. Can somebody help?"

    This has to be fake. Someone who is making that much cannot be this dumb.

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  15. "This has to be fake. Someone who is making that much cannot be this dumb."

    Have you ever worked in a Gannett newsroom?

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  16. "I went from $94,200 to $97,450, but I don't know how to calculate percents. Can somebody help?"

    The answer is 102%

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  17. "The answer is 102%"

    Hey, another moron.

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  18. I agree its a fake but just to be sure that people are not that dumb.
    new salary - old salary divided by old salary multiplied by 100.
    so,
    97,450 - 94,200 / 94,200 *100 = percent raise
    3,250 / 94,200 * 100 = percent raise
    0.0345 * 100 = percent raise
    3.45 % raise

    To help clarify this further, the percent chance that Gannett is around for my grand kids to work?

    0.00%

    There are only two types of employees left at Gannett. Those close to retirement that are just waiting it out, and those that suck so bad they couldnt leave if they wanted. Neither of these type of employees are the type that save companies such as Gannett. Therefore, like I stated above, 0.00%.

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  19. There is a third and fourth type of employee still at Gannett 2:10 - the third is the employee that is doing so much more now and is so tired and burned out that he/she doesn't have the energy to get into a job search mindset. And the fourth is an employee that may or may not fit my description above that happens to be working for a property in a part of the country with extremely high unemployment numbers where there are no jobs.

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  20. There is a fifth type of employee, the evil ex-gannett-now-usat paranoid boss who pits their employees against each other, than stands back and watch. These clowns gossip about everything and everybody for self-esteem.

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  21. Many, many people can't figure percentages. A business reporter at USA Today, with many years' experience, once asked me for the formula. I was tempted to scold him, given that he worked for the largest-circulation paper in the country, but I gave him credit for being honest.

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  22. Pay raise? That's HILARIOUS!

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  23. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  24. Another kind of Gannett worker. One who clearly loves what he or she is doing, is pretty much cemented in the place where they live, no chance of a similar journalism job, but who would take a commensurate job if one was available. But, in the meantime, will do the best they can despite the problems/troubles/idiocy/lunacy because that's the "professional" thing to do when one still likes their work even if they hate the place where they work.
    To the others who bitch and moan about evil Gannett. IF you used to work there, count your blessings if you got out, no matter HOW you got out. And go enjoy your lives. But, for those who remain, give us a break, we STILL have a job, no matter how soul sucking and brain searing it may be. If we wished to be unemployed, we'd quit. Until then, we have the right to complain. If you left, you don't.

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  25. Oh, and I got a raise this year.

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  26. Do the Indie union folks still have to pay dues when the union accepts a 10% decrease? Just curious. Does teh union give them a break?

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  27. Raises of 2 to 2.5 percent have been the norm for years, at least for reporters, whenever a freeze wasn't in effect.

    They were pretty meaningless, though, because much of any raise was always swallowed by increases in insurance premiums and co-pays.

    Esentially, the company had quite a racket going: Give a raise, then take it back for the health plan.

    But hey, don't complain. I never knew anyone who was chained to his or her desk.

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  28. I think 12:45's comment concerning Dubow's 17% raise is something that should not slide by, especially since it came (please correct me if I am wrong) during the time nobody was supposed to get pay raises. I'd love some corporate hack to justify it. Oh, and please don't say that "his contract stipulated that if he met blah blah quota by blah blah, he got a raise and that his quota was achieved." Contract or no contract, THAT cannot be justified!

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  29. Tucson extended the pay freeze indefinitely, and mandated 5 more furlough days. There is also a hiring freeze except for a very select few positions. If someone leaves, their position is not filled. This is having a predictable effect on workload and morale for the people still there. All departments - newsroom, advertising, IT, etc are running on skeleton crews. All the empty desks, and the empty Citizen newsroom, make for an eerie sight.

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  30. GCI has been sucking its community newspapers dry for at least 15 years. The Arizona experience referenced above was played out just about everywhere.

    Hiring, firing, pay freezes, hiring freezes seemed to be knee-jerk reactions in Westchester to whatever corporate dictate was flowing down the pipe at the time.

    In the mid-90s hiring was going full blast in Harrison, even creating a new class of reporter to report on things so trivial that they wouldn't normally get in the paper - the cat in the tree thing, etc.

    Then, boom! As all these extra people left they weren't replaced, and neither were any of the grunts who did the heavy lifting.

    A long-term vision hasn't existed in that place for more than a decade.

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  31. Are raises back at USAT? I thought that meeting y'all had said it would be lifted soon. Not that it was lifted????

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  32. i would like to see documentation of annual compensation (including bonus) for all corporate staff for the past 3 years (since the layoffs began).
    that information would provide suitable debate on whether an equitable "merit pay" structure is truely in place.

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  33. 12:54 and 12:08 -- Great points but note that Dubow really received much more than a 17 percent increase. All of those options that he was given when the stock was way low (somewhere around $3 a share) are now worth more than five times their strike price.

    Assuming he decides to cash them in, he could make a once in a lifetime profit. The irony, of course, is that this is supposed to be a reward for his great work, although the stock is still far lower than when he took over. Essentially, he's getting a multi-million bonus for driving the company to the verge of collapse and then resuscitating it.

    Maybe that's what we should do. Just stop working but mention to our bosses that we mwould be willing to start again if they quadruple our pay.

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  34. Oh man, I don't miss this. I left Gannett 12 months ago and am now making ~20% more, with better benefits, sick time I can actually take and vacation time I can use without feeling like I'm screwing my co-workers over.

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  35. Does Craigys 17% raise count against his 20% pay cut I thought he took?

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  36. If you look at plain salary, Dubow did take a pay cut. Of course, his salary is kind of like my reimbursement for driving around town. It's a pittance of what he's actually paid.

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  37. Two percent. I gotta say, after suffering through the last two years, it still hurt.

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  38. A manager told me the top end here is 2%. I look for no increase.

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  39. Two percent is pathetic considering the furloughs and pay freezes while the corporate hogs crowd around the trough.

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