Sun-Times: Happy New Year! You're fired!

I once sat in while my chickenshit publisher fired someone on our staff the day before Christmas Eve.

 

Does anyone think that a big-money guy like Ebert or Mariotti may be vulnerable?

 

No. Not a chance. Mariotti has a brand-new contract, and Ebert is even more a Sun-Times brand than Mariotti.

 

We don't have that kind of luck.

 

I used to make speaker appearances for our paper, talking to students from grade school to college about journalism careers. I don't do them any more, because I can't in good conscience recommend to students that they enter journalism.

For those of us who are in, we have to decide whether to stay. It's a financial thing for most of us. If we can meet our salary requirements elsewhere, it's probably time to move.

 

I never worked at a union paper - I thought they offered more protection than this. Is there any kind of severance package?

And does anyone know if the paper did buyouts leading up to this?

 

The Guild contract does not protect Reductions in Force, or so I was told about an hour ago.

 

Wow, the Guild negotiated a crappy deal there. (Then again, the situation there is tenuous at best.)

 

Well, it does establish a hierarchy of who's fired, I believe. Seniority, I was told, likely will win out.

 

And there's the rub with me when it comes to unions - seniority. Obviously, I'd like the job security, but if I'm dead wood the company should be allowed to move me for someone better.

 

"Dead wood" can also be a 26-year old who has no concept of sports or local history and who spends half his shift surfing the web or IM-ing his buddies.

Just sayin'.