Sports reporter - Bozeman Daily Chronicle

A labor code violation? At a newspaper? The very thought is shocking.

 

I know squat about hunting but Montana seems to have a season for just about anything, from turkey to wolverine to mountain goat.

Maybe they forgot to mention the free Intro-to-Trapping seminar included as part of the package?

 

My first paper, a weekly, did it. They later, after I left, got busted by the Dept. Of Labor and ordered to put in a time clock. My other papers always paid OT, as long as the employee notified them about it in advance and gave them the opportunity to tell the employee to leave for the week after 40. My Gannett paper, in particular, was very careful about it.

 

I'm sorry, but the salaries that some of these papers are offering are a joke. Anything less than 34K for someone who is single on their own with a car payment and student loans can't get by with anything less.

If I wanted to live in poverty, I would have skipped college and worked at McDonalds.

OK. Rant over.

 

While I agree with the idea, (I did not go to college to work fast food) you can get by quite easily at 34K or a little less with student loans, rent and a car payment. I do it, and rent is insane where I live.

 

So are you saying that $33k or even less is acceptable?

 

For our industry at the moment, yes. Not to say I like it, but that's the way it's been.

 

Yes, in many parts of the country. Heck, my best friend, who was a teacher, didn't make that much after being in the business a decade.

 

Pioneer has run that paper into the ground.

Bozeman is a really nice town, has all the stuff you would want plus the university and skiing opportunities close by. But that salary is nowhere near enough to live on. It's embarrassing.

 

Just making sure because I don't make that much.

 

We should all organize for a pay hike like the fast-food workers.

 

The position has been filled.