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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
7% Pay Cut
David Gordon, Photographer
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Somerville | MA | United States | Posted: 11:49 AM on 05.31.09 |
->> Is what GateHouse Media, New England division, just handed down on Thursday to every employee making less than $35K. Salary cuts go even deeper the more you make.
Objective: cut $2.5 million to stay in the black.
Goal: "ride out the recession" and come out stronger on the other end.
This latest action has come on the heals of weekly layoffs ("Black Thursday" as we have taken to calling it). Management stated that continued layoffs would simply cut too deeply into the foundation of the company... ie: can't lay off anyone else without shutting down papers.
Sad but necessary? |
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William Purnell, Photographer
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Wichita | Ks | | Posted: 12:28 PM on 05.31.09 |
| ->> Necessary? I guess thats a tough quetion to answer without seeing the entire companies balance sheet. It very well maybe necessary. I've always liked the ideas of paycuts better than layoffs personally. |
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Kevin Leas, Photographer, Assistant
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 1:33 PM on 05.31.09 |
->> Slightly better than Gannett - a week of mandatory unpaid vacation for each of the first two quarters so far. By that rate, each employee will have lost an entire month of pay by the year's end.
David - are your Gatehouse people also down to 35 hour weeks? That's what happened to the office in Canandaigua. Salaried people were unaffected (at the time, anyway), but hourly employees (everyone except editors & execs) were cut to 35 hours a week months ago. |
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David Gordon, Photographer
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Somerville | MA | United States | Posted: 11:57 AM on 06.01.09 |
->> Kevin- we are definitely NOT down to 35 hours/week. Most of our papers have been cut back so much over the last few years (and particularly the last few months) that we simply wouldn't be able to put out papers if we were restricted to 35 hours.
RE: "Slightly better than Gannett - a week of mandatory unpaid vacation..."
I'd rather get a mandatory unpaid vacation. First off, its less of a pay cut, and secondly, I'd get a vacation. As it stands now, we get nothing in return for our pay cut. |
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Michael Granse, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 12:46 PM on 06.01.09 |
->> Looking at the numbers . . .
A 7% cut in pay is almost the same thing as working for free for an entire month.
Two weeks of forced unpaid vacation is roughly a 3.8% cut in pay.
One month of forced unpaid vacation is roughly 8.3% cut in pay. |
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Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 1:55 PM on 06.01.09 |
->> David, you should bring that up with management.
I've heard of several newspapers that have instituted mandatory work furloughs each month to avoid sticking compensation issues. |
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David Gordon, Photographer
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Somerville | MA | United States | Posted: 3:09 PM on 06.01.09 |
->> Allen,
The cuts apply to everyone at GHM/NE, including support staff, sales, management/editors and the publisher himself, who made the final decision and is taking a far more substantial pay cut. In other words, this is non-negotiable for me and/or everyone else. If I got a furlough, everyone would want one. And as I said earlier, because we are so short staffed at this point, we can't afford to loose a single person for even a few days. One reporter joked with me earlier today that she would have to be bleeding out of her eyes to take a sick day.
As you'd expect, there is much gripping about this decision, but ultimately, most of us do understand the need to cut (for reasons no one wants me to get into know) and I am slightly comforted by the fact management is taking an a significantly larger cut than the grunts. |
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Tim Vizer, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Belleville | IL | USA | Posted: 10:35 AM on 06.02.09 |
->> Something else to look at, considering furloughs. They might work, but might cause more trouble than the problem(s) they solve.
For example, at a printing plant, there are a minimum number of bodies necessary to actually run the presses.
So if worker #1 is given a week's furlough, and the manager has to bring in worker #2 in his place, possibly on OT or creating extra hours/other issues, what did the furlough solve? |
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David Croxford, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Honolulu | HI | USA | Posted: 12:58 PM on 06.02.09 |
| ->> PacificBasin Communications in Hawaii, the group that owns Honolulu magazine and about 9 other regional & national pubs just handed down an across the board 5% cut. The reasoning, Ad revenue has dropped 30% and they don't want to lose anyone. It doesn't affect bonuses - just straight salaries so until the revenue comes back everyone's salaries will be down. the positive thing is we're all still working! |
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Sean D. Elliot, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Norwich | CT | USA | Posted: 2:33 PM on 06.02.09 |
| ->> At our paper the rational behind the furloughs is that they are temporary. Sure, you lose 5% (or whatever the actual number is) of your pay for this year, but it's not a permanent cut in pay. Our publisher reasons that a permanent cut would be more difficult to add back into subsequent budgets, but the furloughs have to be enacted each time. I hope that is indeed how it works cuz down two weeks so far this year is hurtin'. |
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Shawn Lynch, Photographer
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New York | New York | USA | Posted: 10:18 PM on 06.02.09 |
->> David,
I'm sorry to hear about it. I heard the news from another friend who still works at Gatehouse a couple of days ago. I wish I could say more, and trust me, there is a lot more to say about this, but I can't right now as a former staffer at the company. All I can really say is good luck to you and everyone else in riding out this storm. |
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