The Inside Out blog has done a good job of pulling together all of today's offerings from the Booth chain of newspapers. She has a lot of information on pay cuts, benefit cuts, etc. that I haven't had time to pull together.
The benefit and pay cuts are Booth wide. Although I don't know if the managers and editors are sharing in the pain. Maybe someone has information on that.
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17 comments:
Let it be known that your never-ending quest to blast "The Man" with your endless diatribes has cost one full-time employee his job. Are you still proud of yourself for "being right?" Moreover, spare us the religious stuff on your page; nothing worse than a religious hypocrite.
I fired no one. I have never used, and never will use the word "proud."
As I said earlier, I have never wanted to be wrong worse in my life.
There are a lot of full-time employees losing their jobs, the blame lies with the people who are firing them.
Read closely - it was never said that you fired anyone. Your getting force-fed this info got someone fired, however.
And guess what, it's editors, it's everyone. Salaries have been slashed - top to bottom. Your notion of editors raking in the cash while everyone else suffers is ludicrous, at best.
You got the Cadillac of all Booth buyouts! The rest of us aren't getting anything close and never will.
Wow, what an incredibly ignorant comment from anonymous 19:03. How can anyone possibly blame someone, other than Flint Journal management for an employee dismissal? Jim - you are doing a great service, both to current and former FJ employees (I did 18 years time). Please continue to keep us informed Jim...thanks for taking on a task that some many others have avoided.
Never said you fired anyone. Read closely. However, you getting force-fed information directly resulted in someone losing their job. That's a fact.
And, news flash, these cuts are hitting everyone, top to bottom. Your obsession with management and the notion of it just sitting back and raking in cash while cutting everyone else loose is ludicrous. Do you honestly believe that?
I don't want to get into an extended discussion. Emotions are running high right now and I fully understand that.
When the "Cadillac" of buyouts was offered, it was offered to everyone. Everyone had a chance to take it and many of us who could see the handwriting on the wall encouraged anyone who would listen to take it then.
I'm sorry if you didn't take the "Cadillac."
I never said the editors weren't getting the cuts, I just asked if they were and if anyone could enlighten us on that.
The history of Booth management, as I have seen it and with rare exceptions is that the Peter Principle is in full force. Just see AnnArbor.com for evidence of that.
So while those who have managed this whole mess for the past 8 years may be taking cuts, I'll take your word for that, let's see how many actually get laid off.
One publisher, I'm told, is leaving with a $430,000 buyout. Now that's a Cadillac.
A lot of great people are losing their jobs here 19:15.. A lot of lame ass people who are bad for business are staying and even if they are taking a 25% hit in salary that's better than losing everything you've worked for.
I think a lot of BCT, SN, FJ folks would be thrilled with having lost a mere 25 percent of their pay. Many of us will watch our wages plummet by 30 to 50 percent on June 1.
Any idea if the west side of the state is taking these same pay cuts?
Those who were "protected" by management during the last round of buyouts aren't feeling so safe now, are they?
These people were convinced to bypass the buyout and unemployment checks with 'managers' promising a role in the enhanced product. They were told everything would be fine once the deadwood was gone, no need to take the money and run.
Surprise! The enhanced product is a crap sandwich. Now get to work spreading those buns.
"Protected" was an irresponsible and dangerous notion. And I heard those people were going to be warned after the final bit of financial news came in and it was clear the whole thing was a deck of cards just waiting to fall.
Apparently, those last warnings never came.
Well I'm wondering that the peaple that thought the pledge read if there is a paper there is a job, well what happened to that; just cause they change the rules don't mean change the pledge.
Anonymous 23 March, 2009 20:40
In reply to your question "Any idea if the west side of the state is taking these same pay cuts?"
Yes, the west side is also taking pay cuts, and having to pay part of their health insurance now too.
Anonymous 23 March, 2009 21:52
The job pledge was changed last year. The paper has to print 4 or more days a week for the pledge to be in effect.
I can add that the rank-and-file on the west side have taken approximately 10 percent pay cuts as well as a $155 monthly expense for health and dental insurance. Certainly bad news, but by no stretch of the imagination is it what AA and the rest are dealing with today.
It is unbelievable to me that anyone ever took the job security pledge seriously. When I took a job in BC 10 years ago, I had already worked for enough chains -- Landmark, Ogden, Lee -- to know that promise was worth about as much as the paper it was written on in the employee handbook. The editor at the time liked to ask me to tell newsroom folk how good they had it at Booth, since most of them had never worked at any other chain. Sadly, now that they are facing 25 percent pay cuts and have to kick in for health insurance, they're making what the rest of us regular community journalists make. As former Boothies, my ex-husband and I -- I at BC, he at Saginaw -- saw versions of this coming when the new printing plant was built for the two papers, but it's even worse than we imagined. Thank God we got out when we did. We wish the hard-working, dedicated folks we knew much luck. And for those who brought the papers to their knees -- check out AnnArbor.com for one -- you should be ashamed.
Anonymous 19:03
What an ass
To Anonymous 19:03: So let me get this straight -- the reason for the carnage that took place yesterday isn't incompetence or greed, but because someone inside the organization saw the equivalent of a freight train coming down the Booth tracks and warned Jim about it? Wow, you really have to stop mixing your Ambien with vodka -- it's clouding your judgment.
Jim did what the management of Booth didn't have the stones to do: He warned employees about what was coming -- not because he had to be "right," but because it was the right thing to do. When people in Flint are having their pay cut to levels that qualify them for food stamps while the former editor not only survives it but triumphs to live another day running a farce of a "news" web site, thank goodness there are people willing to put truth to power. After all, that's what journalism does.
You say there's nothing worse than a religious hypocrite? Well, yes there is -- people like you who apparently have a twisted notion of what Christianity is. Jim is too modest to say this but he donates countless hours of his time to charity, including rebuilding homes and churches in New Orleans. Unlike a lot of people who think they're holier than thou because they recite the right Bible verses, Jim actually walks the walk. I bet he cares a whole hell of a lot more about the victims of this massacre -- yes, massacre -- than do you or that despot who'll be the "content director" at annarbor.com as a payback for cleaning out the Journal newsroom.
I feel very sorry for my friends on the east side, as your fate is far worse than that of us here on the west. For many years I have said that the executive level management of the eight papers all had their collective heads up their collective hind ends. Yesterday they made their incompetence known to the world. For what is left of us on the west side it is only a matter of time before our fate follows that of yours.
Over here we have all the little back room deals being made and some employees being told not to worry your protected and then those walk around and act as if they are gods. Lies, lies, lies that is all they are worth.
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