Lee deskers: The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. Sorry.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Layoffs coming everywhere and all desk jobs other than St. Louis will be moved to one of three design hubs in Munster, Madison and Lincoln.

Report: Lee newspapers are laying off copy desk staffers | JIMROMENESKO.COM

 

[YankeeFan]

Wow. First a JennaLaine sighting, and now the return of 2muchcoffeeman!

It's been some week already, and it's only Tuesday.

Who will be next to turn up?

 

[Moderator1]

People are losing their jobs and you come up with that!?

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

I hope Mary Junck rots in Hell.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

People are losing their jobs and you come up with that!?

I've been laid off by a Lee paper. I don't have a problem with it.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Alternate headline to this story:

"Mary Junck's grandchildren strike Christmas gift bonanza."

 

[LongTimeListener]

I don't honestly see how this can be surprising or even all that upsetting to anyone. Lee has been in the crapper for a good five years. There was never going to be a way out, that much has been obvious. Shouldn't people have been planning their escapes?

I know that sounds unsympathetic. And all I can say is, been there. Not with Lee but in an equally hopeless situation.

 

[Cosmo]

So the papers in Flagstaff, Tucson and Missoula will be designed in Wisconsin, Nebraska or Indiana? Yikes.

 

[pressboxer]

So the papers in Flagstaff, Tucson and Missoula will be designed in Wisconsin, Nebraska or Indiana? Yikes.

Almost as bad as my former coworker who moved to Des Moines to design pages for papers in Louisiana.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I hope Mary Junck rots in Hell.

Next to Craig Dubow and Bob Jelenic.

Seriously, Lee lost millions last year, yet the aptly-named Junck nearly doubled her compensation. For what? Oh, that's right, the company is still afloat, right?

http://jimromenesko.com/2013/01/18/lee-enterprises-ceo-mary-junck-gets-82-raise-in-a-money-losing-fiscal-2012/

Good luck to all who are really being affected by this.

 

[steveu]

Ouch. To my fellow journalists/colleagues at Lee, my sympathies. There are some days I wish the P-D were still a Pulitzer property.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Ouch. To my fellow journalists/colleagues at Lee, my sympathies. There are some days I wish the P-D were still a Pulitzer property.

So do the Lee employees at papers that weren't part of the Pulitzer purchase. That deal is the one that sank the company.

 

[Mark2010]

I left Lee in May 2011 and there were rumors that something like the design hubs was in the works. I'm sort of surprised that it has taken this long.

It will be interesting to see how this affects small and mid-size shops. At our paper, for example, everyone in the sports department (save one part-timer) did both writing and desk work, often in the same shift. So it will be interesting to see what happens there.

 

[Cosmo]

I left one of the Pulitzer sale papers about a month after Lee bought it, so I don't have a real feel for the way things changed. I used to design pages in sports but they were moving to a universal desk about the time I left. I think there were only five or so people on it. Smaller shop.

 

[I Should Coco]

Damn it. I know a few people at the Q-C Times ... supposedly the "flagship paper" of Lee Enterprises, which has its corporate offices in Davenport.

Apparently that didn't help today. The Romenesko story says as many as 12 newsroom positions could be whacked at the Q-C Times.

Bad, bad news ... hope everyone affected can find something better, somehow.

 

[RonClements]

As a former Lee layoff casualty, it is quite puzzling how Mary Junck keeps her job. She has overseen the collapse of one of the largest newspaper companies in the country.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Ouch. To my fellow journalists/colleagues at Lee, my sympathies. There are some days I wish the P-D were still a Pulitzer property.

So do the Lee employees at papers that weren't part of the Pulitzer purchase. That deal is the one that sank the company.

Damned right it is.

As a former Lee layoff casualty, it is quite puzzling how Mary Junck keeps her job.

I've never understood this. Normally when a CEO sinks a company into bankruptcy, (s)he gets whacked. Mary Junck? No, she gets raises and bonuses.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Just talked with a good, good friend of mine who works at a Lee property. Without question, one of the most positive people I know and even she was wondering how Mary Junck ended up with $1.8 million last year.

See also: Craig Dubow and Bob Jelenic

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

So is Lee the first(?) major chain to completely go away?

I'm surprised that with the facilities they have at the QC Times, and corporate being right there, that they didn't house at least one of the hubs there. Wouldn't surprise me if they have a bunch of older, higher-compensated deskers there (compared with Munster, Madison and Lincoln) and this is a way they are going to weed them out.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Tangentially (and also hilariously) Lee employees aren't allowed to retweet Romenesko. Wonder why? :D