Tampa Bay Times layoffs

The linked article says revenues are falling short, hence the pay cuts. I think the only publisher to report results for Q4 so far is Lee. They reported a 12.5% revenue decline. In Q4 2018 Lee reported a 5.3% drop in revenues. So initial signs are that things are getting even worse economically.

 

Gannett’s earnings call is Thursday morning. Its stock has been in free-fall this week, down in the $4.90s.

 

The suits should be laid off.

 

A furlough and a 10 percent cut? That's pretty serious for those raising a family. I wonder what a furlough is? If one is on furlough according to law you can't use your work email or do any work, correct? But you also are required by law to work 40 hours and we know the wink/wink exception to that in which the worker works 60 and gets paid 40. Is it the same with furloughs? If there is a big tornado or plane crash or something is somebody on furlough expected to work and the suits look the other way? Thank you for the answers.

 

I didn't see anything about a furlough, but all employees getting 5 paid days off in exchange for the temporary pay cut.

Doing the math, if you're making $40k a year, you will lose about $930 with the pay cut, and the value of a week's paid vacation is about $770.

So a net of minus-$160 in that case could be a lot worse, I suppose. Better than the days of regular furloughs at many shops.

 

Basically the same thing

 

Not the same thing. You don’t get paid when you’re on furlough. You can file for unemployment to cover that, though.

 

But you’re taking an equivalent pay cut so it is basically the same thing

 

Sucks to be losing money, but still is a far cry from taking both a pay cut and a furlough.

 

A sad situation. If the TBT goes under, there's no hope for local Florida journalism. The next step would be to set up a non-profit newsroom, like The Texas Tribune, Spotlight PA or, recently, The Markup.

 

The Times' has a big story out today about a shitty armored truck company: GardaWorld built an armored truck empire while taking shortcuts. Mayhem followed. An investigation by the Tampa Bay Times

Pretty damning information and a laughable response from the company. I'd love to see if GardaWorld, the company at the center of the investigation, will go through with their lawsuit threat.