Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Aug. 22-28 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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38 comments:

  1. Yes, it is true, Josh Resnik has been let go and David Payne is cleaning house within Gannett Digital. There is a list floating out there that has about 80 people on it.

    See you later Josh!

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  2. If an editor manages a department made up of 2 people, the editor and 1 other, should the editor be entitled to overtime? The gentleman in HR says no, so I'm crowdsourcing.

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  3. Nope. The editor is an exempt employee.

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  4. Falls under two separate provisions - it's a manager role, and it's a professional position. No OT.

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  5. Any more news on the situation with the weeklies in Florida closing down?

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  6. 8:30 am - Isn't a reporter/staff writer a "professional position?"

    Yet, luckily, in most newsrooms a reporter is an hourly position.

    And what about the website staffers, IT people? Shouldn't they all be hourly. In many places they are salaried.

    None of it makes any sense. I just wish these rules and labor regulations were followed consistently.

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  7. Update from the Libya desk....

    We found some poor soul on the ground to at least give us a Libya dateline. Reporting was shoddy, but oh well.

    Other than that...more reporting from the comfort of sunny Tysons Corner.

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  8. Tony Simmons, VP/Operations
    914-694-5165

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  9. Any staff meetings, memos, news out in USCP land after the T-31 meeting last week?

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  10. to 10:16 am regarding reporters.

    Under federal labor law reporters are not professionals. They are the equivalent of factory workers.

    Probably many of the editors aren't really supervisors. They're the equivalent of assistant managers at fastfood chains. It's a trick to avoid overtime: give them a title and don't change the job.

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  11. Did anyone notice that former 3M employees won a class action suit this week. Did anyone get the name of the attorneys?

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  12. 401(k) question...

    Is there a way to convert the Gannett stock accumulating in my 401(k) to some other investment within the plan?

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  13. @12:38PM

    You could always ask then to convert it to Charmin, since that's about all it will be worth soon anyway.

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  14. @ 12:38 Yes. You can log in to your account, sell the Gannett stock and move the money from the sale into another fund in the plan.

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  15. yes, 12:38. If you haven't done this, you should. you should take any GCI match and instantly convert to another fund. I've been gone for a while, but when I was there you had access to an S&P index fund. I'd park it there. Overall market has taken a beating so the index can be bought for firesale prices. Virtually no management fees. Market hasn't done much of anything today, so it's still relatively low compared to recent highs.

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  16. 12:38 - Seriously??? If you've not been doing this all along, you clearly have not been paying attention to your benefits management and retirement plan. There are absolutely options to move your Gannett stock into other areas. It's been an available option for sure since these benefits (healthcare benefit selections,401(k) etc have been managed by YBR? I sure hope you knew that long before now? Wow!

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  20. Gannett loses lawsuit (again) over streaming rights.
    http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110824/APC0101/110824081/WIAA-wins-appeal-by-Post-Crescent-lawsuit-over-livestreaming-sports-events?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

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  30. No one should be lamblasted for their lack of knowledge about the 401k match. You would be surprised to know how many folks never bother to look at their holdings or park $$$ in barely yielding money funds. Some people i know were not aware of the pension plan until it had been frozen. And as semi sophisticated as I pretend to be, I have made many mistakes managing my retirement accojnt. Being too conservative, selling too late, churning. Back in the salad days, Gannett ouperformed the market. It's a crapshoot. The best thing you can do if you are young is get all of the matching shares from Gannett, dump them into the 500 index fund and dont try to beat the broad market. Over 20 or 30 years, you ride out the wild times and accumulate (hopefully) a nice nest egg.

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  31. Make that put all of the retirement $$ in the S&P 500

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  32. 6:16 am is full of crap. Digital is adding folks by the dozens. Didn't you go to ANY of the meetings 6:16? Oh I forgot details and truth are not important here.

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  33. Digital is "restructuring" right now, and I suspect means adding and taking away, both. I have no doubt that even though Digital is hiring, they are letting people go.

    PS: Yes, I've been to the meetings, before 6:36 PM gets all snarky again.

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  34. Reporters are classified as "Professionals" according to classification by the Equal Employment opportunity Commission for reporting purposes. That's different from the professional exemptions to overtime allowed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Reporters are considered non-exempt by the FLSA and must be paid overtime. There are strict criteria for designating a position as exempt or non-exempt. The editor, however, does meet the requirements for exempt status because the make the assignments, edit copy have management decisions on assignments, etc.

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  35. Jim, I ripped on 5:09's comment for being poor poetry - and you should have deleted my comment.

    But if you can stomach it, read 5:09's words. S/he's calling those of us who are still employed with Gannett ignorant whores. That comment's just as useless as the folks piling on about 401(k)'s or yesterday's discussion of the 5/4/4 calendar.

    That writer has the same uplifting comments day after day and you'd be doing us all a favor of deleting that ray of sunshine when you see it. Scrolling through six pages of "This post has been removed by a blog administrator." just to get to bits o' wisdom like this makes it real hard to justify stopping by.

    And just like our readers, if I didn't care enough to tell you what I don't like, it would mean you didn't matter.

    Thanks.

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  36. 5:09: People still at Big G or other failing newspaper companies are trying to get out. It's just not easy starting a new career while dealing with life's duties and perhaps being in a smaller community with a tight job market. Even the big cities still have high unemployment and most offerings are just above minimum wage McJobs.

    We need to encourage one another, not throw stones. I'm trying hard to separate my work from my home. Important to your sanity not to let jerks and circumstances you can't control stay in your head once you leave the office for the day. It's easier said than done. Good luck to us all.

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  37. For 401(k), a good choice is the Stable Value fund. It is a litle better yielding than money market, and the value does NOT drop or pop. Very conservative. S&P Index, or any other index, is risky now because of global trouble, U.S. politics and strong potential for recession. Your investment posture depends on your age and risk tolerance. If your'e nearing retirement, play conservative. As for GCI stock, it's a fairly consistent sell these days. Or, do you really think our prospects are rosy? I sell mine routinely and have saved a bundle. We have a corporate management grasping at straws like raising the dividend and buying back stock with precious cash. I would rather they invest in keeping our properties competitive to hold onto circulation revenue, advertisers and eyeballs.

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  38. Thanks to all for providing some good advice on moving 401(k) money around. Appreciate you taking time to help someone out. I consider myself pretty knowledgable in these matters, but have to admit I missed this piece.

    Thanks again....

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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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