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Merry Christmas to all. The Union-Tribune today (Dec. 3) announced a plan to reduce the staff significantly -- a total of 43 in the newsroom alone, along with other employees throughout the company. The plan is called "voluntary separation program," or VSP, but in the memo, U-T president Gene Bell warns, "Please note that the level of employee participation in the voluntary program will determine the extent of future involuntary separations." In other words, it's better to have your hand chopped off now lest your head gets lopped later. The beleaguered company is offering a lump sum payment equal to 1.25 weeks of base pay for every six months of continuous employment up to 52 weeks. Certain medical costs will be covered for a brief period. Older employees with many years of service will be covered until Medicare kicks in. (Presumably, employees vested in the retirement program will keep their benefits, as generally required by law, but I did not see that in the memo, which was read to me by phone. If there is any change in that, I will update this memo.) Employees have to hand in a completed form to the company by end of work day December 12. In the newsroom, the company intends to slash 3 columnists, 9 news and metro reporters, 3 critics, 2 sports reporters, and 2 features manager/supervisors, among many. In advertising, the company wants to eliminate 8 call center classified employees, among many. In circulation, 6 distribution cener operation representatives will go, among many. Certain employees are safe, including those on SignonSanDiego, employees of Human Relations, sports columnists, the editorial cartoonist, and a variety of computer-related positions. San Diego is the nation's 17th largest metro area, but the U-T's daily circulation is only 23rd among the nation's dailies, and the Sunday circulation is not even among the top 25. The paper has been doing much worse than other metro dailies. This suggests that some heads should roll at the top of the organization, too, because there was dismal strategic planning that left the company vulnerable to the vagaries of the metro daily newspaper business. However, the company has a history of shifting blame downward.
Merry Christmas to all. The Union-Tribune today (Dec. 3) announced a plan to reduce the staff significantly -- a total of 43 in the newsroom alone, along with other employees throughout the company. The plan is called "voluntary separation program," or VSP, but in the memo, U-T president Gene Bell warns, "Please note that the level of employee participation in the voluntary program will determine the extent of future involuntary separations." In other words, it's better to have your hand chopped off now lest your head gets lopped later. The beleaguered company is offering a lump sum payment equal to 1.25 weeks of base pay for every six months of continuous employment up to 52 weeks. Certain medical costs will be covered for a brief period. Older employees with many years of service will be covered until Medicare kicks in. (Presumably, employees vested in the retirement program will keep their benefits, as generally required by law, but I did not see that in the memo, which was read to me by phone. If there is any change in that, I will update this memo.) Employees have to hand in a completed form to the company by end of work day December 12. In the newsroom, the company intends to slash 3 columnists, 9 news and metro reporters, 3 critics, 2 sports reporters, and 2 features manager/supervisors, among many. In advertising, the company wants to eliminate 8 call center classified employees, among many. In circulation, 6 distribution cener operation representatives will go, among many. Certain employees are safe, including those on SignonSanDiego, employees of Human Relations, sports columnists, the editorial cartoonist, and a variety of computer-related positions. San Diego is the nation's 17th largest metro area, but the U-T's daily circulation is only 23rd among the nation's dailies, and the Sunday circulation is not even among the top 25. The paper has been doing much worse than other metro dailies. This suggests that some heads should roll at the top of the organization, too, because there was dismal strategic planning that left the company vulnerable to the vagaries of the metro daily newspaper business. However, the company has a history of shifting blame downward.