gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

They did some layoffs at our place yesterday, apparently in advertising. And there was an ominous announcement about more hardship to come, including layoffs. They said they'd be talking to the union and then there would be "discussions" about the best way to go forward. Have no idea what that means but it can't be good. Oh, and they sent the e-mail about this at exactly 5 p.m. yesterday. What I don't understand is that Gannett's third-quarter earnings were up, thanks to cost cuts. I guess they think if some cost cuts are good, more are better. Geez, this business. I can't take this every quarter.

 

I know in some instances the Gannett papers with unions have taken less of a hit than those without one. It could be a coincidence...

 

It's not a coincidence. With a union, there are stipulations in the contract about who can be laid off, how it's done and the severance that must be paid. Last time, they had to negotiate to get exemptions to the seniority rules because there were certain people they wanted to keep who would have been gone without the exemptions. These are sticky things to negotiate which I'm sure Gannett would rather just do without and find the numbers reductions elsewhere.

 

I just heard a rumor about more layoffs at the Free Press. Can anyone clue me in? Magic? You still around?

 

I know of one sports staff that once had about 40 staffers where they had 25 non-exempt employees and 15 who were exempt.

The 15 who were exempt were the SE, the deputies, the copy chief, the columnists, and the college and pro beat writers.

All of those 15 are gone. Of the other 25, 23 still exist. The paper has gone from 40 to 23 in less than two years.

 

I wouldn't say it's getting any better. From what I understand, it sounds like a vast majority of the people hired at the regional copy desk are very inexperienced. Some have admitted they've never laid out pages before. And now they're having to lay out pages for someone hundreds of miles away and the only line of communication is e-mail.

And it's only going to get worse in the next few weeks. Alexandria announced last week that they're selling their press (and subsequently laying off 40 people) and will begin printing in Lafayette. That means Lafayette will be printing their own paper, along with the Opelousas paper and Alexandria paper. Somebody's deadline is about to get completely screwed. The rumor is Opelousas will have a 8:30 p.m. deadline and Alexandria a 10 p.m. deadline. If so, say goodbye to prep coverage and college football coverage.

 

Most of the recent Gannett hires, even at bigger papers have been very young and cheap. If you're over 28, forget about it. They want people who will drink the Kool-Aid.

 

Gannett definitely sounds as if it is up to no good again.
How many glitches will there be in transmitting pages back, etc?
Deadlines will have to be 6 p.m. to get out a morning paper. What if a tornado hits town or there's a big murder or something with developing details??
Oh yeah, the website.
The paper edition of such a story will be a joke.
Just go all online, Gannett, do it now and speed up the death of all your papers (and other chains who will soon copy you).

 

"That's right, grandson, grandpa used to work for a thing called 'newspapers'".

 

I posted above all I know. But it sounds like layoffs might be coming. Or maybe they'll try buyouts again.

 

Whoops, don't know how I missed it.

Good luck over there.

 

My source says big cuts coming before Christmas, possibly right after Thanksgiving. Number is likely to be around 2,000. I don't know if that's changed much in the past month, but that's what I heard.