Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Layoffs | Estimated job reductions approach 230

[Updated at 11:57 a.m. ET with latest numbers]

Gannett Bloggers
have now reported an estimated 229 jobs cut at 27 U.S. sites since early last month. The latest are two positions at Gannett's Washington-based news service, ContentOne, and two at the Daily World of Opelousas, La.

We're tracking these lost positions on this spreadsheet; please see if your site is included, then post your latest figures in the comments section, below. And don't forget: We're counting all jobs in all divisions -- not just the U.S. newspaper division.

Related: this spreadsheet counts the 255 jobs cut at 63 worksites in November.

63 comments:

  1. And this layoff number just goes to show that Gannett talks out of both sides of it's mouth. "Furloughs" were supposed to stem layoffs... but layoffs never abated. As Dubow proclaimed here in Phoenix last September, that he wouldn't ask us to do something that he himself isn't doing, meaning a cut in pay. However, unlike my permanant 6 and 1/2 percent paycut and loss of one weeks vacation, Mr. Dubow realises a $1.45 million cash bonus (as reported here at Gannettblog.) Gee, I wonder where the money came from?

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  2. Geeeezzz, I am glad I left this train wreck of a company. At least he isn't getting my money anymore. Wow, the employees must pay his and other non-performing behinds with reductions in pay and furloughs. Makes the old robber barons look like saints. People, just leave this company - there are other jobs out there, but this borders on ridiculous.

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  3. deckhand on the Titanic2/28/2011 9:45 AM

    This company is becoming the WalMart of media companies as far how it deals with it employees, except for one difference, WalMart is successful and has a future. Gannett, as a company, is like a ship that is taking on water and sinking. Clearly the top 5, Craigy, Gracie, Dickey & Co., will stay on long enough to loot the staterooms, fill the lifeboats with $$$$ and abandon ship before it goes down, The should get a pay cut and be put on 6 month probation for their bad decisions and poor management.

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  4. Gannett, the Walmart of American journalism. I love it. Gannett has cemented its reputation for cheapness. McPaper may have been a joke, but there's nothing funny anymore.

    Just how much more money can corporate drain from the community papers? A lot. A whole lot more. Dubow, Martore and Dickey haven't even come close to filling their pockets!

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  5. Why insult the management of that winning company (Walmart) with Gannett?

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  6. Only 4,790 more cuts to go. Shouldnt be long now.

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  7. Is it possible to sue these people? I know on a moral level this just isn't right. But... God have mercy! Surely, on some level, this just isn't legal! How is it justifiable to furlough and fire (lay-off) the ones who actually do the work that generates revenue, while Gannett bigwigs line their pockets with raises and bonuses?!!!

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  8. 8:41 here again...
    I think it's a business template Gannett is following (or, Gannett may have been the originator of this business model.) Certainly being a media company they could control the news, what we get, how we perceive it. What if a corporation bought a media company, then very subtly villified the work ethic of working Americans?, "to compete in the world economy." What if this corporation employed a steady drumbeat of anti-union stories (fair game for sure!)via it's media properties over a long period of time? Wouldn't this corporation benefit the most from the demise of an unorganised, anti-union workforce? Couldn't this be the end game senario of a corporation extracting every last bit of profit because it knows no other way?

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  9. We had 15 cuts in Green Bay today--this includes 2 in Sturgeon Bay and 1 in Oconto.

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  10. Can anyone put some names on the Green Bay cuts? BTW, Green Bay has regularly been one of the most profitable papers in Gannett. I believe Jim could confirm that. And with a Super Bowl in their immediate past, 2010 and first quarter 2011 was probably no exception. Just shows you how deep and sweeping the cuts truly are.

    So who bought the farm in Green Bay? Anybody?

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  11. What would it take for GCI employees to form a union?

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  12. Margaret Buchanan met with Cincinnati employees yesterday and said that digital business not anywhere need where projected and more furloughs and layoffs possibly coming in second quarter.

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  13. 6 cut in prepress last Friday in Visalia

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  14. Curious what, if any, "severance" packages laid off employees are getting this go-round??

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  15. 8:19 Union question:
    My previous job was a union print shop. It was a great job with professional people and management. We were competitive with non union shops and very respected in the community. What would it take? A lot of footwork. Check out:

    http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/how/howto.cfm

    There is more information than that out there than that too.
    I have always thought of ordering UnionYes stickers and plastering them all over the building. (Just an little fantasy that brings a smile to my face once in a while.) My 'Gannett company 12 hour days' would never have happened at that Union shop without proper compensation. I love my present job, however, at some point I will make a change to another company which is not prone to taking advantage of my good work ethic.

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  16. "What would it take for GCI employees to form a union?"

    First off you need to be really pissed off! If you're in the newsroom contact The Guild. In production, contact The Teamsters. There are unions representing electricians and machinists, too.

    Remember... Gannett, like all corporations, is preparing to take your money and benefits away from you to insure higher profits and bonuses. The "end game" is coming and being nice is playing their game. You need to be as ruthless as they are... You have no other choice.

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  17. If Cincinnati’s new website is any proof, then it seems viewership and revenues are destined to decline. Having what appears to have been problems with story comment tools over the weekend won’t help. And as much as Buchanan enjoys her wood floors and river views, the time for the Enquirer to vacate those growingly vacant and pricy digs is long overdue.

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  18. Guild is terrible you must organize with the teamsters, they are the best lots of these layoffs would not have happened if these departments were union shops, ask all guiled across country who ve been lais off watch what happens at phia inq in oct to to guld members after 1 yr gaureentee runs out, more middle managers would have taken hit

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  19. If you're thinking of starting a union, be prepared to wait years for a contract. In the interim there will be no raises, no 401k contributions, no life insurance, essentially nothing that you take for granted now.

    All of these things, and others, are "negotiable," and Gannett is expert at driving unions to their knees!

    That said, good luck to you. Get a good union in there, not necessarily the guild, and get some real good labor lawyers on your side.

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  20. Jim, there seem to be consistent problems with your spreadsheets. Any solution?

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  21. "Curious what, if any, "severance" packages laid off employees are getting this go-round??"

    10:45 AM, how do you categorize "this go-round"?
    I was laid off in February, and the "severance package" is the crappy TPP (the former employee files for unemployment, and TPP supplements the unemployment payment for a specified number of weeks **as long as the employee is eligible for unemployment**). This means that each week, you have to update information at two different sites.
    I was also offered subsidized COBRA for a couple of months. Interestingly, it's been a month, my health insurance has officially ended, and I still haven't received my COBRA package.
    When I called about it last week, they discovered that the package they claimed to have mailed to me was actually incorrect. They had not allowed for the two month subsidy. So, I now have to send them a copy of the letter offering the subsidy when I return the paperwork THAT I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED.
    Everything is a hassle, and they can get away with it because they do not care whether former employees have a good opinion of them.

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  22. 12:39 Can you describe the problems with the spreadsheet? Incorrect data? Or you can't view them because of technology/access issues?

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  23. Just 4,780 to go, you just aren't trying hard enough.

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  24. Technically they weren't laid off, but Opelousas, LA, lost two clerks last Friday. They had been told the previous week that their hours were cut in half, to 20 hours, no insurance or benefits. So they quit. One was with the paper over 30 years, the other over 20 years.I think that leaves the paper with 1 reporter, 1 editor/reporter, 1 photographer,1 news clerk/reporter, 1 in sports.

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  25. 1. Gannett expects to have 5,000 fewer employees this year. This is based on 3,000 involuntary terminations and another 2,000 or so voluntary departures. Gannett' President, Ms. Martore must approve every open req for any new hire and she has told everyone that even if an employee leaves voluntarily, the Divisional Presidents are not allowed to back fill any roles.

    2. Bonuses for GMC members are partially determined by goals that each GMC member set for "staff reductions" for the fiscal year. The other part is based on NIBT (earnings). Obviously, one is the function of the other. There is NO bonus incentive for GMC members for "growing revenue".

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  26. #1 sounds right - we're a profitable site and profitable territories are being left uncovered and uninterviewed.

    #2 race to the bottom, baby. We're not an attractive takeover option because we've already cut all the expense that's easy, hard, smart or stupid to cut.

    So what's the end game? And why aren't the big investors squawking that these moves make their investments really risky?

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  27. When I worked in Rochester from 1993-95, the Newspaper Guild was in the midst of negotiating a new contract with Gannett.

    In 2008, they agreed on the new contract after 16 years of negotiations.

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  28. Come on, MBoss, number one makes little sense. 1. Gannett expects to have 5,000 fewer employees this year. This is based on 3,000 involuntary terminations and another 2,000 or so voluntary departures. Gannett' President, Ms. Martore must approve every open req for any new hire and she has told everyone that even if an employee leaves voluntarily, the Divisional Presidents are not allowed to back fill any roles.

    Assuming Gannett hires more than 5,000 a year (yes, at least) that means she's signing dozens of requisitions a year. Even you know that isn't right, Jay, no way R.

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  29. If Martore really needs to sign off on any new hire, this company is inches from falling off the cliff!

    I really find it hard to believe, then again I find it amazing that such a decision can't be made locally by local executives working within their budget.

    And that's what's scary about Gannett. Everything flows from corporate except the money which flows to corporate.

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  30. 11:23, Buchanan's stomach must tighten up every time she has to ride the public elevator to her 20th floor office with the friends of people she's laid off. She would love to trade her river view for digs that provide her with a private back door she can ooze in and out of. Until then, everyone knows that Buchanan's bonuses and rings came off the backs of discarded employees. She is the Mubarak/Qaddafi of the Enquirer.

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  31. Anonymous, 3/03/2011 12:58 PM: We are going through the same thing with COBRA. But it's okay -- it will take 2 months to process -- but it will be retroactive! Really? retroactive health insurance?? We qualify for 2 months COBRA at the employee rate, it will take 2 months to get, and then it will be backdated 2 months. Wait, what??

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  32. The NT-31 papers, particularly those clustered around a large Gannett daily, needs to study closley the steady decline of the Opelousas (LA) Daily World. Once held up as the model of consolidation, its resources have been depleted to the point that there's no there there, newspaper-wise, in Opelousas.

    It began simple enough: Why do need your own publisher? Why do you need your own editor? Why do you need your own copy desk? Then came the big gutting in 2009, followed by quarterly "trims" through today. A position, here, a position there. Management strength gets the target as high-dollar expensee-cut opportunities; survivors take on more and more and are able to do less and less. All in the name of streamlining and efficiencies. Now, in its depleted form, the Daily World has been cut so much that even those overseeing the bloodbath concede that they've done so much damage to the property that there's little hope that it will endure.

    But there's little time nor patience for such navel-gazing and regret; group, echoing corporate, needs another 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent cut. Surely you can give us 2 percent? You gave that much last quarter and the quarter before that.

    The sad reality is that the people doing the cutting don't live there, rarely visit there and, if push came to shove, don't really care how or if the Daily World survives. No one is left there with enough clout, guts or passion to argue on their behalf. The mayor, the chamber leaders and others who might fight the good fight for their town's daily newspaper have all but conceded that they really don't know or can't reach the ones running the World. All leadership rests in Lafayette, Nashville and McLean, Va. And it's doubtful the Lafayette publisher will call his boss in Nashville to fight for poor Opelousas.

    The loss of those two clerks last Friday may seem small, but it is perhaps the last straw to many in the community. They were well known by customers and readers in that community, answering phones, solving problems and maintaining key relationships. And, let's be real, they didn't make a lot of money. But, if you are sitting in Lafayette and you have to make sure the Daily World shares in the pain, the only way now you can get at expense is by cutting people in news and sales. So, sure, take the clerks. After all, there's no pressroom to trim, no IT, no HR, no Circulation, no Marketing, no Finance, no prepress. All gone.

    If the folks at the other small dailies in the South Group aren't paying attention to the unfolding tragedy in this small Louisiana operation, they need to wake up. Opelousas may be their future.

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  33. 11:46 Thank you. Remind us again, please, what the NT-31 papers are. I believe those are the smallest among the U.S. community dailies, as defined by revenue?

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  34. Not Top 31.

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  35. Of course there will be more layoffs. Digital is not working because it all came a little too quickly for our market. If sales know that they are not going to hit the digital number, wouldn't you sell something that you have a chance of hitting? Plus, you don't see the digital sales team selling. In this market we double dip so basicallly the digital team falls back on the sales group. Would it not make sense to turn the digital group loose and say you go get whatever you can?

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  36. Are we just taking that ContentOne layoff tip at face value? I have a difficult time believing that it's true. And then again, if it is true, is it worth exploring further? There can't be many employees as it is, and it's been billed as one of the Great Solutions for the future of the company. Not so Great of a success?

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  37. Jim, are you counting publishers and editors in your layoff count? For example, Callinan in Cincy, or these other publishers seats left vacant by retirements. Not saying you should, but wondering what management you include in this?

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  38. Yes; I'm including everyone. But Callinan left in the first quarter. Plus, his job was not eliminated, anyway.

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  39. 11:46 gave us a very thoughtful post, and that is something I'll admit I have thought about as these series of layoffs ripple through our operations here. We are powerless to stop them. Who do you call? You don't know them, and they don't know you. What is more they don't care who you are.

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  40. How many were laid off this week in Mansfield Production for MNCO?

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  41. Re: Deckhand on the Titanic...You are correct in that WalMart is profitable and while no company is perfect WalMart takes care of their employees all the way down to the lowest paid associate by giving them a yearly bonus based on profits, not just the top executives. Lots of people make fun of WalMart but rewarding every employee by sharing the profits breeds loyalty to their company, which Gannett has not figured out.

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  42. Heck, GCI doesn't even recognize an employee anniversary - at least at Crystal Palace, that is.

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  43. The ContentOne layoffs are completely true, and the two firings are the talk of the building, far more than the GANNETT rebranding.

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  44. So what are people saying?

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  45. Brevard's total was 8. 2 editorial, 1 IT, 1 photo, 2 pressroom and 2 advertising.

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  46. Who got tossed at Content 1? USAT is losing a Wash. correspondent, who announced he's leaving.

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  47. Morristown, NJ paper -- Daily Record -- laid off 16 people. It's not on your spreadsheet. (2 photog, 7 reporters, 4 editors, the only web/tech person, the only IT person and the publisher's executive assistant)

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  48. D M Reg affiliate in Iowa,
    M E left in Feb and position will not be
    filled.

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  49. Was the one ContentOne person a female with over 20 years from GNS?

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  50. USAT has to be next regarding layoffs. Too many people floating around with no responsibility producing nothing. They are making big money, too. Either turn them into content producers or make them sell some ads.

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  51. Plenty of this at GCI corporate, 9:01am: "many people floating around with no responsibility producing nothing. They are making big money, too." Sitting around at empty desks ... reading, doing crosswords, watching tv, shopping at Tysons mall ... ho hum.

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  52. 8:03 I list Morrisontown under Parsippany. Those 16 jobs are included in the overall 48 included in the Bridgewater listing.

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  53. What is the DM Reg Affiliate?

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  54. Interesting vote Saturday at cherry hill, teamsters voting on contract lets see what happens if they get any job loss none in philly last yr

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  55. what is "GMC"?

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  56. Gannett management committee

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  57. Anonymous said... westchester site MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT SOON IN MARCH ABOUT DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT RESTUCTURAL IN EVERY DEPARTMENT. CHANGES ARE COMING GET READY PEOPLE.

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

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  59. So, is anyone left in the small Louisian paper. It only had three or four people a few years back possibly hiding some Lafayette payroll with the other employees.

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  60. What's the story with cavone?

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  61. If they cut the redundant management and dot.com jobs at USAT and made similar cuts at GCI headquarters, this company could avoid scores of layoffs.

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  62. 4 at WXIA in Atlanta have been eliminated so far this week.

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  63. Who is the HR rep for WXIA these days?

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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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