Newark cuts salaries, bennies

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/08/newark-starledger-slashes_n_199831.html<blockquote>NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey's largest newspaper says it will reduce employee salaries and no longer cover the entire cost of employee health insurance.

Publisher George Arwady says the moves, announced Thursday, were made necessary by a continuing decline in advertising revenues at The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The salary reductions will be done on a sliding scale, starting July 1. The first $40,000 of an employee's salary will be reduced 5 percent, the next $40,000 by 10 percent.

Employees also will have to pay 25 percent of their health care plan costs.

Earlier this year, the newspaper said it would stop contributing to its employee pension plan and ordered staffers to take 10-day unpaid furloughs this year.</blockquote>Dammit.

 

Curious, is that a common situation where an employer pays for the employee's entire health plan? I think I pay about 30% of mine right now.

 

Have worked at four different newspapers, always paying between 10% and 30% of the company cost for medical insurance (and likely going up). Welcome to the real world, Newarkians.

 

I pay over $400 per month for medical, vision and dental. The furloughs will hurt, since you get docked in pay and then have to take unpaid leave on top of that.

 

The furloughs are already there, Stitch. Ten days of them; we're already well into that.

Joe, of course, is right; Newhouse employees have long gotten a sweet deal not having to pay for part of their medical. The pay cut is going to sting, sure, but I expected more than 5 and 10 when it happened.

Just waiting for this to filter back to us now, which I know it will.

 

Um, Newhouse may be cutting back on some health insurance, but there is a gigantic chunk of employees who don't get health insurance AT ALL.

This from a family whose net worth is more than eight BILLION dollars?

 

God, how I hate when people do the "um" thing.

 

Um, Newark might have been the last of this breed. Congrats for lasting this long.

 

why do you hate high school athletes we interview?
why do you hate high school and college we interview?
why do you hate high school and college all athletes we interview?

 

Um, I don't. Um.

 

Others will soon follow what Newark does.
Here's another take from E&P.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003971160

 

Geez, Shotty, I never knew, and I have certainly been an "um" guy.

Um, ya know?