Gannett buys Journal Media Group

Including in my neck of the woods the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Gannett to buy Journal Media Group for $280 million

 

Whoa.

 

... as Gannett stuffs another round of early retirements down the throat of staffers (while saying if not enough people take it, more layoffs are likely).

» Gannett’s Chief People Officer would like to see more people volunteer to leave Gannett JIMROMENESKO.COM

Fuckers.

 

Jesus, that message is all but an open threat.

Oh, and p.s. "Best regards."

 

The most insulting part of that is he tries to make it sound like layoffs might not come if enough people take the offer when it's obvious layoffs are coming no matter what.

 

I also love the laughable title, "Chief People Officer."

 

Everything is awesome!

 

Reminds me of my previous job, where our esteemed VP of HR decided she didn't like that title, so she changed it to Vice President of People & Culture.

 

Yes. The letter is written by someone with no people skills, which is probably why the guy shot to the top at Gannett Corporate.

I think if buyouts are being offered, the potential for layoffs, etc., is implied already, so why be so heavy handed?

"Hey, we know you have a tough decision, so we are going to add a layer of guilt and fear to the mix and see if that helps!"

 

Not much different than Tribune Publishing. If you've just turned 55, you have two options under the plan the company announced the other day: Take a buyout that will pay the bills for up to a year, keep your retiree health-care benefits and hope you can survive until you can tap into your retirement accounts penalty-free; or stay with the company, lose your retiree health-care benefits -- and run a high risk of being laid off in a year or so anyway.

 

Keeping the health benefits is a pretty good deal. Makes freelancing and such more viable options. At least for a period of time.

 

Talk about a veiled threat. That letter is downright screaming at them, "You either step aside and retire or we'll find another way to get rid of your ass."

Wow. And what a fucking moron this Harmon guy is. He put the deadline date in the letter twice. Did they really need to read it in the second paragraph and the fifth paragraph of a five-paragraph letter???

If that's not a threat, I don't know what is. What a fuckbag.