Tribune Publishing

[Joe Williams]

Nothing will keep you in the job market more passionately than realizing what your newspaper pension will net you vs. a teacher's or a DMV clerk's. If you get one at all.

I know teachers who are retiring on half-salary.
I think my pensions will add up to 15 percent.

I know of a teacher who got a raise when he retired. He was maxed out on the pay scale when he was still working, too.

Certain unions, you can be a custodian and retire on a six-figure pension if you game it just right and take on a union position for a day or two, gaming the service time and such. That happens in Chicago with alarming frequency. But then, dead people vote there too.

 

[Bronco77]

Newspaper pensions basically dried up in the early 90s in favor of stock grants, 401(k) matches and the like.

How many newspaper companies still have active traditional pension plans? Cox (which is into many business ventures besides newspapers, of course) is one of the few I know of; it's a benefit there even for new employees. That'll probably go away one of these days.