By: E&P Staff We will be posting below reactions to the mandated one-week unpaid leave for all employees ordered today by Gannett. For one thing, the company clearly expects union members to go along with it -- they may not agree.
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At the Indianapolis Star, Tom Spalding, interim president Indy News Guild 70, sent out the following e-mail to members:
"Your Guild is keenly aware of today's announcement by corporate about
one-week, first-quarter 2009 unpaid furloughs. We have already
contacted the Newspaper Guild/CWA to get their advice and explore our
options, given how it appears to be only mandatory for employees here
who are exempt from the contract. Corporate suggests in the memos
released at noon that layoffs would be in store for the unit if the
union doesn't agree to a furlough
"We are in information-seeking mode and will respond to you; in the
meantime, feel free to send us your recommendation as you digest 'what
this means.' We're looking into see if there's the possibility of
unemployment benefits or freelance opportunities."
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Laura Rehrmann, Managing Editor, Gannett News Service's Washington Bureau, e-mail to her people:
"If this applies to us, I'll put a furlough signup sheet in REGED.
"We can't have a deserted newsroom, so the whole bureau can't go out the same week. Plus, you may want to figure out whether it's worse for you personally to have a smaller paycheck in February or in March.
"I will mention that Congress is out the week of Feb. 15-21, so we could have a fair number of people out that week without missing a lot of congressional news. (Again, would need some folks here.)
"No, you can't take a furlough week next week.
"Stay tuned."
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