Democrat-Gazette seeking voluntary hour/pay cuts
As if the recent bankruptcy of the Tribune Co. (Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times) wasn’t enough to send shivers down your back, yesterday marked yet another example of how the newspaper industry is struggling in these tough times.
The Arkansas Blog has come across an all-staff memo sent to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette employees yesterday. The memo, sent from newspaper President Paul Smith, is titled “Reducing Expenses” and asks for volunteers to be considered “to reduce their workdays to four days a week…with compensation reduced accordingly.”
Smith told the Arkansas Times, “We’re trying to come up with every way we can to cut costs without having to go into a big layoff.”
In similar news, The Iconoclast made mention last week of changes at the Las Vegas Review-Journal which indicate economic troubles for Stephens Media LLC, who also owns one of our other local newspapers, The Morning News. The LVRJ has consolidated pages and therefore slimmed down certain sections. “Got that? Less news, same price,” says Jonah.
News like this is certainly disturbing but it feels even worse when it’s this close to home.
Comments
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By Total Bastard on January 14th, 2009
Frick them for sucking so hard.
By sg on January 14th, 2009
News is the same up here in KC. Rumors are that the Kansas City Star is going to trim three daily editions from a normal week by year’s end. And you can already see it in the current papers — over half of the content isn’t our own. Sad.
By the Steve on January 14th, 2009
Here’s a good article on the subject. When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?
It does seem like the writing is on the wall, and it is sad.
By Dana Leighton on January 14th, 2009
“We would consider any employee who is willing [to reduce] their hours from 40 hours a week to 32 hours a week, with compensation reduced accordingly. … we would also consider employees who might want to voluntarily reduce their workday…. For employees who make these [reductions] we would consider future requests to increase hours once business has improved and is back to normal levels.”
This presents an interesting dilemma. Do you (a) take a cut, making less money, and risk a layoff anyway – thereby left without a job and less money to survive unemployment, or (b) don’t take the cut, bank the money you would have lost by taking a cut, and risk a layoff anyway – thereby left without a job but more money to survive during unemployment? There is no guarantee that taking a cut will preserve your job, so you’re in a tough position.
And, it is “voluntary” — but the company will know who does and does not take a cut — so if they know you took a cut and your buddy didn’t, does your buddy get the axe before you do? Not necessarily!
Interesting that the company does not even promise that you’ll get your old hours back, never mind being compensated for those lost wages, once business goes back into the black – the stockholders will get paid off instead? That sucks.
I will bet the folks at the top end of the salary ladder are not taking voluntary cuts in hours and compensation…
We nationalized mortgage companies, insurance companies, and banks — maybe newspapers are next? :)
By Total Bastard on January 14th, 2009
The newspapers are a casualty of free information. We are living in a time like never before in that we’ve had about 10 good years of internet based news, opinion, etc. Its virtually all free. Even if you can’t afford internet service, you can log on at the public library for free.
I have a weekender subscription to the ArDemGaz, primarily because I like the gameday supplement during football season. I reckon it would be cheaper to go out and buy a 50 cent paper those 12 weekends a year or so, but I’m lazy.
I’m letting it run out because a few times i have found tire tracks in my yard where the young deliveryperson has decided to drive up to my front steps to deliver the paper rather than get out and walk to my door.
I hope he gets downsized, lazy fricker.
By Justin on January 15th, 2009
It’s all the internet’s fault. If you give your product away for free, then nobody is going to buy it. Too bad when newspapers started to go online, the management had no real idea what they were doing. If every paper had either a delay before posting stories or an online subscription few, then this would not be a problem. But that wasn’t the case. There are/were people who wanted that all important website updated while the presses were still running. They have put themselves in the predicament. Dumbasses.
I really like newspapers and the enjoy reading the printed form over the internet for most stories. I hope they don’t disappear forever, but it doesn’t look too good for them.
By George on January 15th, 2009
The newpapers just got too far behind the digital/internet wave. They were stuck in their old way of doing business and never learned how to make money or compete with the new medium….basically the same as the music industry.
I have a daily subsription to the DemGaz and thoroughly enjoy reading the paper. There’s just something about it for me. I guess I could bring my laptop into the ****ter with me, but it just doesn’t feel the same.
By Todd Gill on January 15th, 2009
The internet hasn’t helped newspapers but it certainly hasn’t caused all of this. In its most basic form, a newspaper is a little bit of everything rolled into one. As a culture, we don’t have the patience for that any more. In fact, we started moving away from a common package long before the internet became our best friend. Cable TV and magazines were the first to make us look at content in a different way. Instead of waiting for the morning paper to tell us who won last night’s NFL games, we either a) already knew because we watched them or b) already knew because SportsCenter told us. In either case, we already knew. That’s not to say that newspapers have no place, though. SportsCenter can’t tell us who won the Fayetteville High School game last night. Nor can CNN shed any light on what’s happening in our local government. There is still hope for newspapers, but not without first slimming down and re-focusing. Of course, that’s easier said than done. And it’s certainly just a start.