Dean Singleton should have a scorpion tied to his scrotum

Great PR move by these gutless assholes in management as the Guild votes today whether to negotiate 7 percent pay cut among other concessions.



Nov. 4, 2009

Pioneer Press terminates employee with breast cancer

Sherri LaRose-Chiglo has been a photographer in the newsroom for eight years. She hasn't been in the office for the last six months and many of you probably don't know why. We're telling you Sherri's story with her permission.

On May 5, when Sherri was 37 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two days later, she gave birth to a healthy son. Since then she has undergone two surgeries and four months of Chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10.

Due to ongoing side effects of the chemotherapy treatment and upcoming radiation treatment, long-term disability was approved for Sherri and began on Nov. 1. On Monday, Sherri received notice from the company by telephone that because she is now on long-term disability, she is being terminated.


The company had not previously told Sherri that termination was a possibility. Management told Sherri in the beginning, "Don't worry, your job will be here."

Sherri struggled through chemotherapy, while caring for her newborn son, and believed the worst was behind her. She began thinking about returning to work when the termination notice was given. Sherri wants to work and has enjoyed working at the Pioneer Press. She viewed returning to work as a return to some kind of normalcy after battling cancer. Now, the company has taken this out of Sherri's control.

The Guild views the company's decision as heartless and we're seeking information from the company about Sherri's termination to determine what we can do to help her get her job back. We'll keep you posted.

 

See, this is where guilds can be morons. They think getting back someone their shitty job under a shitty owner is a good thing. They don't do what is truly best for their membership, and say "The owner will never stop cutting. We cannot beat him. Go find something else to do with your life, where you won't have to deal with this stress every single day."

No, instead, it's:

"We're trying to get her job BACK!!!!"

Because, you know, working at the paper owned by this skinflint is such a wonderful experience.

Screw that. Secure a lawyer so she can sue the pants off Singleton for wrongful termination. And she will win. Then she can not worry about the (inevitable) next round of layoffs, and take a bite out of Lean Dean in the process.

The "normalcy" of having a hell of a lot of money and being able to raise your newborn without being beholden to Singleton's whims, sounds pretty good.

 

It is heartless as hell what happened there and I think it sucks balls. Unfortunately, many companies -- not just newspapers -- cut employees once they reach long-term disability.

It's bullshit of the highest order.

 

Every story about someone who gets forced out of their job through no fault of their own is tough to read.

I know several people who lost their jobs while their spouse was pregnant. I know of one where the guy lost his job the day after his kid was released from the ICU. I know one person who was on bereavement leave burying her mother and then came back and was let go her first day back. They handed her the sympathy card signed by the staff and three hours later was let go by HR.

I know someone who paid over $5,000 of his own money to move his family across the country only to be let go six months later.

I know of one guy who killed himself two weeks after he was let go from his gig because as he told a friend, "It was the only thing he had going."

What's my point? None of these companies give a fuck about you. If you think otherwise, you're fooling yourself.

 

Yeah, they should be working on suing the shit out of the P-P right now.

And finding someone to cut Singleton's balls off and feed them to him.

 

Seriously, it's incredible that no one has figured out his pattern of travel and dealt with him.

 

Given the job situation I'm actually shocked we haven't seen a major workplace shooting or a CEO murdered by a disgruntled employee.

 

How do they get away with this, legally?

 

Except he'd somehow negotiate for the scorpion to cover the Dodgers for 9 different newspapers.

 

In Minnesota, if a suit goes to a jury, Dean's fucked.... which is a good thing.

 

Well, I was working on it, until cancer saved somebody the trouble.

By the way, Adolf says hi.