Is there such a thing as getting a raise anymore?

My paper lost more than 20 people in an 18-month span because we had a dickhead for ME. Corporate pushed the panic button, shitcanned him and offered everybody who was still standing a six-percent raise (plus the three-percent cost of living we get every year). So I made nearly 10 percent just for being dumb enough to stick it out. I am very, very lucky in this case. However, months later, we still have unfilled positions because no one wants to come here. Joy!

 

I feel really weird writing this because I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, but I figured the good news might be appreciated. I'm at my first job, and right after my first year here (been here year 1/2 now) I got a very good raise. I feel weird putting # on it, but it's more than COL, for sure. My ME was like a month or two slow putting in the paper work, but when he did, he made sure my next check had the missed wages I should have had. So that was pretty cool. So it does happen, even if it's not too common (I guess I should feel blessed.)
Oh, and I actually get paid time and a half for my OT. Every hour of it.

 

Kinda makes you wonder what exactly your union dues are going toward.

 

I don't pay my union dues


And, um...

Yeah, bragging wouldn't be my concern there.

 

I think this issue should be raised more often, since the corporate suits are determined to ignore it and make you think you're lucky to have a job. Especially when they're lucky to have you sticking around.

Journalism used to operate under the merit system: Good workers got good raises, bad workers got bad raises. That's how you hold the line while also holding your team accountable. Back then you could get a 10 percent raise every year if you did great work.

Corporate journalism ditched the merit system sometime around the early 90s, I think, and that's when the business got mean. The Mendoza Line on annual raises has steadily dropped, from 6 to 5 to 3 and now 2 percent at the places I've worked, and now they expect you to feel lucky when they hand you the 2 percent. Even though cost-of-living expenses climb 4-6 percent a year.

Now the bad workers get the same raise you do, or pretty close, and the quality of work suffers -- and the team suffers, too, because the good workers leave. Nobody on the team is happy, and pretty soon you have a newsroom full of people who are frustrated at corporate management that demands loyalty but ignores the need to show it.

Happy workers make productive workers, and everybody wins. Now your raise is minimal, your workload has doubled, and your boss thinks his job is to crack the whip and remind you that you have to row harder. Doesn't bother him -- he's working for that Christmas bonus.

No wonder good people are leaving the business in droves.

 

Ha, yeah....

 

Not really. When I worked at non-union joints, I worked 65-75 hours a week, every week, and I was lucky if I got two days off a month. A 2-day weekend? You gotta be kidding. The bitch M.E. and dipshit publisher thought nothing at all of assigning me to take pictures of some pancake breakfast or ribbon cutting at 9 (or 8:30) a.m. Saturday, after a 2 a.m. football shift the night before.

"Theoretically," I was supposed to get three weeks vacation a year, but amazingly enough, every year, there would be some "unforeseen emergency" which would put the kibosh on it.

The union doesn't do much for me, but at least THAT shit's stopped. For the moment.

And, doing some real quick math in my head, over the last 8 years or so, I've made about $200,000 more at a Guild shop than I would have had I stayed at the non-union shop. So there is that. : :

 

I don't think I ever get my full vacation in. I rolled a week over, and now I'll be like two weeks under. Oh well. Happens when you work two jobs. Hard to find a time when you're not needed at either.

 

Try not getting one in over four years. While I have tried to get used to this, I am considering jumping ship to another place that respects people more for their contributions. If you only knew the boss I have to deal with...

 

nice post.

 

Thanks, TP. I left the biz recently, and that is one of the reasons. But only one.

Not the measly little raise, but how demeaning and insulting it is to work in that oppressive environment.