No raises at McClatchy

[Moderator1]

From The Pipeline:

I work at a McClatchy shop, and we got a letter today stating that McClatchy was freezing wages companywide for a year starting Sept. 1.

 

[Dickens Cider]

Does that include upper management and corporate officers? :

 

[sportschick]

They allegedly haven't gotten raises for two years though, DC.

**** 'em. This explains why they've been putting off everybody's reviews.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

 

[BTExpress]

At this point I would just like to make it to my next review, let alone worry about a raise.

 

[BigSleeper]

At this point I would just like to make it to my next review, let alone worry about a raise.

WFW.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

A bad situation -- one which the current bad-and-getting-worse inflation robbery exacerbates.

 

[sportschick]

And just think, Ben, at least one McClatchy paper cut hours earlier this year as well.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

And just think, Ben, at least one McClatchy paper cut hours earlier this year as well.

They may not be grabbing people by the scruff of the neck and throwing them out . . . but they're showing people the door, in a subtle way.

Stay and be abused -- or save yourselves.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

A bad situation -- one which the current bad-and-getting-worse inflation robbery exacerbates.

Exactly.
The raise turned out to be virtually nothing (approximately $50) after my apartment rent increase. Getting a $50 raise -- for the year, not month, week, etc.) is pretty bad.
But right now, it's a buyer's market.

 

[Joe Williams]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

A bad situation -- one which the current bad-and-getting-worse inflation robbery exacerbates.

Exactly.
The raise turned out to be virtually nothing (approximately $50) after my apartment rent increase. Getting a $50 raise -- for the year, not month, week, etc.) is pretty bad.
But right now, it's a buyer's buyout-and-layoff market.

It would be a buyer's market, if only papers were buying from the growing pool of displaced journos.

 

[zeke12]

It's made the wires.

McClatchy institutes company-wide pay freeze
LOS ANGELES (AP) — McClatchy Co., the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, is freezing pay across the company for a year starting Sept. 1 in the latest effort to hold down costs.
The company informed its employees about the pay freeze Thursday.
McClatchy has some 13,000 full-time equivalent employees at 30 daily papers such as The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald, as well as about 50 non-dailies.
Elaine Lintecum, the company’s treasurer, said the cost-control measure was undertaken “in light of our very difficult advertising revenue environment.” She did not say how much money the move would save.
In June, McClatchy announced it was trimming its work force by about 10 percent, affecting 1,400 full-time jobs and saving $70 million a year.
Last month, the company reported a 44 percent drop in second-quarter earnings to $19.7 million, as revenue fell 16 percent to $489.7 million.
McClatchy shares rose 10 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $4 on Thursday.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

A bad situation -- one which the current bad-and-getting-worse inflation robbery exacerbates.

Exactly.
The raise turned out to be virtually nothing (approximately $50) after my apartment rent increase. Getting a $50 raise -- for the year, not month, week, etc.) is pretty bad.
But right now, it's a buyer's buyout-and-layoff market.

It would be a buyer's market, if only papers were buying from the growing pool of displaced journos.

It's still a buyer's market. It's just that the buyees are being ultra-conservative about the purchase.
You can't deny that newspapers have set themselves the ultimate competition for their jobs. When kids coming out of school are taking jobs for $20k a year and no benefits, and that doesn't look so bad, yeah, I'd say they are getting what they want.

 

[sgaleadfoot]

I was at a McClatchy paper before I escaped the business last month. Last year, we were pretty much told the most of a raise they could give us was about two percent while management got a hefty bonus for meeting some sort of goal.

 

[Moderator1]

The goal was to not give you guys raises.

 

[Starman]

I left a McC shop last year, and while raises weren't frozen, they weren't exactly steep. At our shop, they were capped at 3 %. One year, my raise was 2 %, and was told it was one of the better raises in the section (one person, I was told, was given the full 3 %).

All I'm saying is this is more of a moral thing than an actual one. Most people at most McC papes have been complaining about raises for a while.

A bad situation -- one which the current bad-and-getting-worse inflation robbery exacerbates.

Not to mention increased employee assessments for health care, etc etc. along with boosted co-pays.

 

[Write-brained]

The goal was to not give you guys raises.

Success!

 

[Giggity]

They allegedly haven't gotten raises for two years though, DC.

**** 'em. This explains why they've been putting off everybody's reviews.

That much isn't true - I'm friends with a raise-giver at McClatchy paper. They've received them up until now, and he says he's been under no pressure to keep raises down via lower reviews.

Still and all, **** 'em.

 

[sportschick]

Has he gotten a raise or has he just given them out?

 

[luckyducky]

Used to love/respect McClatchy but happier every day that I lucked out. I feel for all most of my former co-workers, though, as well as other McC brethren.