More furloughs from Gannett

Just got an e-mail.

Check your inboxes folks.

 

The program will differ from the first quarter’s in a couple of important ways:
The length of the furlough for employees will vary somewhat by division or location, depending on the division’s operating needs and results.

-Our higher salaried employees will be asked to make an additional sacrifice. This could be a second furlough week or a week’s furlough plus a temporary salary reduction equivalent to one week’s pay for the quarter, depending on the division and/or location.

-Some hourly employees will not be required to take a full week. Each division or location will have different requirements for employees in this category.

 

Fucking furloughs. I don't think I'm going to participate in them any more.

 

Vintage Gannett.

My former boss there is on furlough this week, so she cannot access her e-mail or call the office to get the specifics on her next furlough . . .

What a company.

 

She's just not trying hard enough.

 

Speaking of hearing about furlough while on furlough....

 

So the first rule of furlough is don't talk about furlough?

 

pressmurphy ... just curious. what makes gannett's actions worse than any other company? seems to me this is happening just about everywhere, and it's even worse at some shops.

 

Pressmurphy never said anything about Gannett's actions being "worse than any other company." He's talking about Gannett.

There's no logic is feeling blessed to getting screwed just a little less than some other people.

 

There's a lot of logic in that, actually. I for one would rather be at my Gannett paper than at the Rocky Mountain News. Or in Seattle. Or in San Fran.

I still get to keep putting food on the table for my 9 month old son (although, technically, I guess I need to start feeding him 2 percent less than I did last week).

 

I'm not attempting to make a better/worse judgment. I'm simply upset because most of my career was spent at GCI, so that's the chain i know the most about.

What I know is that I was right 10 or more years ago when I told people that upper management was not moving quickly enough to monetize the Internet and a lot of the effort being made online was half-hearted at the same time that Gannett corporate was cramming more journalism-by-the-numbers crapola ("Real Life, Real News") down our throats.

And while all of this was taking place, back-end operations were being neglected. Support departments (IT, ad production to name two) were castrated at a time when they were needed more than ever.

The series of cuts that has come in the last year is particularly devastating at Gannett. Say what you want about other cheap-bastard chain management, but Gannett is the terrorist organization that perfected the concept of "lean and mean."

The two significant rounds of GCI layoffs last year were all they could afford to make because they had understaffed their community papers so badly for many years and there were no more more people to lay off it they intended to get an edition out the door more than once in awhile.

And now I'm watching them cannibalize the survivors.

You can be sure that many are grateful to still have jobs, which is understandable. But I look into too many faces and see people -- good people -- who have been beaten to a pulp. They're physically tired, they're emotional tired.

And now they're giving back their paychecks 2 percent at a time. Many will have lost three weeks of pay by the end of June, and it's not unreasonable to think they'll give up another 4-5 weeks in the second half of the year.

And almost none of it is the fault of the working stiffs.

 

I can't check my in-box. I"m on furlough this week, and that's a no-no.

I'm not joking, either. Honest truth.