Most Detroit Media Partnership employees, including those at the Gannett-owned Detroit Free Press, have just been told to take one-week unpaid furloughs.
That raises a question about whether USA Today employees also would be required to take an unpaid week off. Why? The Freep and USAT are in their own division, separate from the other 80 papers in the U.S. community publishing unit.
I suspect that USAT doesn't move in lockstep with the Freep, however, even though USAT's top two executives have come directly from Detroit. They are Publisher Dave Hunke and General Manager Susie Ellwood, who as basically deputy publisher is in charge of daily operations.
Currently, only certain highly-paid community newspaper employees are on furlough, continuing a cost-cutting move that began in the second quarter. Virtually all newspaper division employees were furloughed during the first quarter.
Furlough memo
Paul Anger, the Freep's editor and publisher, e-mailed this to the newsroom Tuesday afternoon:
Free Press folks:
We continue to face uncertain, challenging economic times, and we’re making some expense reductions. Please know that all managers and other non-bargaining unit employees have been notified that they will be furloughed for five business days between now and the end of the year. We are also reducing some items in our non-payroll expense budget, and managers will have more details on that soon.
At the Detroit Media Partnership, Joyce Jenereaux has notified all non-bargaining unit staff and employees that they will also be taking furloughs this year.
Although these furloughs do not affect bargaining unit employees, everyone should be aware that there are strict guidelines that prevent any work whatsoever -- or work-related conversations or any contact with the office -- involving those on furlough.
Each Free Press department will be looking carefully at any impact on vacations and how to plan our furloughs. We’ll have to look carefully and plan well ahead regarding the schedules of all Free Pressers. Avoiding overtime will be especially important, except for emergencies and breaking news.
Thanks for your patience, all of your hard and great work, and what you contribute every day to the Free Press.
-- Paul
USAT staffers: What are you hearing? 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.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
17 comments:
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If the wage freezes and furloughs start to hurt, just remember that they're going to a good cause: maintenance of executive bonuses and pay raises.
ReplyDeleteCuts at Usa Today are being influenced by the high overhead incurred by Heather Frank's vertical team. High salaries, little ad revenue, useless trips and costs for new offices. This disaster is impacting the entire organization and its getting worse by the day. Hunke doesnt seem to give a damn at the ROI.
ReplyDeleteCant speak to incompetence or highly salaried. But the verticals readership numbers are putrid.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really sick of the bullshit tone these memos always take. This has been going on now for how many years; just give us the nut graph and quit with all the bad economy crap and we appreciate all your hard work. They want better local news? How about taking the lead with how you communicate with staff?
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening with Detroit News employees? Does MediaNews make those decisions or does Gannett?
ReplyDelete"Hunke doesnt seem to give a damn at the ROI."
ReplyDeleteI hope it didn't take you all this time to figure out that nugget. Hunke hasn't given a damn since he filed his first 1040 with seven figures on the earned income line.
Were kinda slow at the Crystal Palace. We figured Hunke was on the ball, at least until the day he promoted all those people to vice president. Forgive me if you thought I actually believed Hunke had something on the ball regarding journalism, boosting revenue or giving a shit about his people.
ReplyDeleteWhy was susie ellwood actually brought in? Has anyone seen her have any impact on usatoday, or is she just here to further isolate hunke when the serious cuts have to be made. I dont get it. Another useless six figure salary gunking up the bottom line. Whh doesnt shsan motiff do a cost analysos of unnecessary managers?
ReplyDeleteThe reason no one wants to do a cost analysis on unnecessary managers is for one of two reasons:
ReplyDelete1) They are afraid they will be found to be unnecessary.
2) They already know they are unnecessary and don't need a bar chart to prove it.
Hunke? Gone in 6 months. Write it down.
ReplyDeleteSix months wouldnt be fast enough. Hope he takes his unqualified veeps (davis, motiff, frank, etc) with him.
ReplyDeleteHunke gone in 6 months? Hunke gone now.
ReplyDeleteUSA TODAY is beyond repair. Furloughs, new faces, verticals - none of that is going to save a brand that began to self destruct when its leaders (past and present) laid off or pushed out some of the hardest-working professionals in the biz. They did so in a ruthless and haphazard manner that made even long-time Gannettoids wonder if USAT has lost its soul. The bad karma combined with the brain drain and huge operational holes may not sink the USAT ship this year or even this decade. But mark my words, almost everything that nation's newspaper did from the time it moved to Tysons has been a disaster. It took USAT several years or more to become profitable. It will take at least that long for USAT to sink into the red. But it will happen because nothing that is currently be done shows any signs of reversing the downward spiral. Word in the industry is to stay clear of USAT. That even goes for young, hotshot web programers and developers, even sales folks, not just journalists.
ReplyDelete4:54 The red might be closer than we think. Didn't Hunke tell the Associated Press that USAT was just barely profitable last year?
ReplyDeleteSpeak for yourself, 11:15 PM. I knew Hunke was going to be a disaster from the first day I met him - when he joined USAT and made the rounds talking to the various departments. He got rid of quality people who were the glue that held the place together and who loved the paper, the brand, whatever you want to call it. Hunke alone is responsible for the downward spiral. It all started with him.
ReplyDelete5:09 There's plenty of blame to go around. Hunke's not the only responsible party.
ReplyDeleteThe folks in the Gannett tower might be the ones requiring all the cuts but Hunke is the one who has been "leading" USA TODAY - making staff changes, picking "leaders" who are clueless and setting the "strategy."
ReplyDelete