Gannett Honolulu union prepares to strike

[TrooperBari]

A byline/photo credit/blog strike during the week of all four state basketball tournaments? Things must be serious.

http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/preptalk.php/2008/02/19/prep_talk_on_temporary_hiatus

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I was really surprised how paltry the big G's offer is. Hawaii is not a cheap place to live. I'd say screw it, I'm not paying more to work here. I don't see how a company with the number of employees that Gannett has can have such a crappy health insurance plan.

Gannett gets away with shirt, because they are Gannett. I've worked for three other big media companies and Gannett is, by far, the cheapest and most evil of them all. I used to think the others were bad until I worked for Gannett.

The problem is that Gannett is everywhere, so avoiding them is pretty difficult. And my wife doesn't make enough money to support us both.

Gannett gets away with it because the corporation is cheap, and the evil empire is big enough to twist arms and threaten to walk out.

Good luck to the union in Honolulu. Crummy benefits and a whopping 1 percent increase in pay after a year stinks. Though I'm sure Gannett thinks it's getting robbed. :

 

[suburbia]

Question for those of you familiar with labor laws - could management force you to be a scab?

 

[Birdscribe]

A byline/photo credit/blog strike during the week of all four state basketball tournaments? Things must be serious.

http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/preptalk.php/2008/02/19/prep_talk_on_temporary_hiatus

Figured as much. Well, that answered my question on why I haven't seen Ann Miller's byline on my Wendy's Champion Skins Game stories -- or any other stories in the Advertiser for that matter.

 

[PC]

As someone who is young and new to the business, I'm curious to know why strikes aren't more common?

I understand there aren't very many strong unions, but why isn't there strong unions? Is there some historic reason for this? I would seem that a profession of intelligent educated workers would figure out a way to organzie so they weren't treat like Wall-Mart employees. Why isn't this so?

 

[pressmurphy]

And I think Gannett may have a harder time finding a corporate sugar-daddy to pitch in. The Vindicator was family-owned, and they called their Newhouse buddies to help out. I think the Newhouses contributed more out of anti-union solidarity than anything else. Gannett is a very different animal, culturally, and I think the Newhouse folks might be content to sit back and watch 'em squirm.

Gannett wouldn't go to outside companies for help -- that's too expensive. They would use a combination of loaners from their other 90 papers and islanders who don't care that they're crossing a picket line.

 

[wickedwritah]

As someone who is young and new to the business, I'm curious to know why strikes aren't more common?

I understand there aren't very many strong unions, but why isn't there strong unions? Is there some historic reason for this? I would seem that a profession of intelligent educated workers would figure out a way to organzie so they weren't treat like Wall-Mart employees. Why isn't this so?

No competition in most markets. Shaky state of the industry. Higher education workers in this field than in many other unionized fields. People who feel they are doing a great public service every day in their job. (Last one is questionable.)

 

[black dude with pompano]

As someone who is young and new to the business, I'm curious to know why strikes aren't more common?

I understand there aren't very many strong unions, but why isn't there strong unions? Is there some historic reason for this? I would seem that a profession of intelligent educated workers would figure out a way to organzie so they weren't treat like Wall-Mart employees. Why isn't this so?

The last few strikes in the business were spectacular failures. I would think that has a chilling effect.