Seattle Times Asks Employees: Give Up A Week's Pay

SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle Times on Friday asked 500 managers and nonunion workers to take a week off without pay in the face of mounting financial troubles at the newspaper.

Executive Editor David Boardman broke the news in a meeting with editors Friday morning.

Employees may take the week off all at once, one day at a time, or in multiple-day blocks, but it must be taken by the end of February, Alayne Fardella, senior vice president for business operations, wrote in a staff memo.

"I regret that we do not have better news for you at this time," Fardella wrote. "It has been and continues to be a long and difficult fight for our survival."

The Times has cut nearly 500 positions in the past year, leaving it with about 1,410 full and part-time employees. Executives have warned that more job cuts could be coming next year, and Fardella wrote in her memo that The Times would be asking for concessions from unions representing the newspaper's workers after Jan. 1.

Fardella cited the frozen credit markets and the effect of the country's economic instability on jobs and consumer spending as factors facing the news industry, which has slashed thousands of jobs in recent months. Circulation and advertising revenue have plummeted at papers around the country.

Seattle Times Co. spokeswoman Jill Mackie said she did not immediately know how much money the company expected to save from the furloughs. Nonunion positions include managers and editors, administrative and finance staff, and workers at the newspaper's Web site.

The Times, the largest newspaper in Washington state, is run by the Blethen family, which holds a 50.5 percent stake in the company. The rest is held by McClatchy Co.

Comments

[blueskybigstar]

At the top of Obama's stimulus plan there should be monies put aside to subsidize newspapers, especially their investigative reporting departments.

How much history would change if we had supported our newspapers like this eight years ago?

[beaupritchard]

Maybe Obama should break off a piece for the HuffPost ... always wondered what Arianna would look like in Valentino ... (maybe a little Victoria Secret for the imagination)

[larry278]

Since Ms Huffington is bold & fit, your curiosity & ideas could become reality, beaupritchard, in our dreams.

[beaupritchard]

Maybe even "splashed" with a little Chanel No.5 and spread on a blanket ...

[beaupritchard]

Obviously part of this discussion didn't make it through the filter ... pity ... it was good

[GuidedByEwoks]

Yay! The Internet won! Go away corporate news! Apparently, insane profit margins and quality newspapers don't mix. Who knew?

[smacklooshis]

The Internet won? Who lost, readers? I hope Twitter's citizen journalists and bloggers can fund trips to Congo, Chechnya and Darfur! Go away corporate news, go away... international news?

[beaupritchard]

"Insane profit margins" ... I'm starting to ask myself a similar question. Why are all efforts being directed at lowering worker cost. Why is there no measure saying what the cost(expressed in hours like worker cost) associated with bondholder repayment or dividend dispersal or interest on borrowed money is.

Why doesn't this headline read "bondholders asked to take less or didvidends suspended or interest payments defered " ... no its always workers that have to bear the brunt of management mistakes or market downturns. The only way investors get to take a hit is if bankruptcy is declared and because they don't want that the attention is turned on what its going to do to workers rather than what it's going to do to investors.

I will be succinct ... sometimes you have to be willing to suffer the worst of consequences to get "the real problem" off your back. You must be willing to go without(or worse) to get lenders and bondholders and money managers in the pit.

[justice4America]

This is going to become a trend.
Meanwhile, CEO's will dine on caviar and lobster while their panicked employees sweat out the oncoming Depression.

[SensibleJoe]

Have these government bigwigs and corporate suits lost their marbles? People don't take jobs and go to work because they have too much free time on their hands and don't know what to do with themselves. They take jobs and go to work because they need money for food, clothing and housing. Work is a social contract: employers buy time out of employees' lives to do things the employers can't or don't want to do themselves. They literally *owe* it to them. Employment is not volunteering: if we all wanted to do good for free, going out and feeding the homeless on the streets is much more beneficial than laboring for no pay for a money-making or revenue-collecting enterprise. These bigwigs made their own problems with lax management, extravagant pay for themselves and a complete lack of realism. Let them tighten their own belts to the point of deprivation to solve it. Their hires ought not to have to pay the price and work for free.

[Davwbaird]

Here in washington the downfall has begun. Note the headline, so there will be no funds for cps and prison guards, it will be awhile, after state lays off 25K of staff, then the safety nets go.

[SeattleTony]

The "bigwigs" in this case are a local Seattle family that are making their own financial sacrifices here also.

[Topgun2]

If they were auto workers, they wld be forced to give up a week's pay so they cld get 95% of their pay.

[colette]

While asking workers to surrender their pay, and trying to bust unions are bad tactics, people need to look at the big picture before lambasting newspapers and letting them die for want of a viable economic model.

During the recent election cycle, most hard reporting recycled to cable TV news and the blogosphere came from newspapers. Investigations against such political criminals as Randy Duke Cunningham was gathered by print journalists over months. Newspapers send journalists to city council meetings and school board meetings to watchdog how laws are made and taxpayer dollars spent. Newspapers investigate Walter Reed Hospital and Gitmo, local prisons and corporations, at an expense and level of detail no blog can sustain and no network TV news bothers with.

Classified ads made up 60 percent of newspaper income. Craig's List has effectively erased that completely. And when newspapers thrived in the 1990s, Wall St. plundered them.

google nor yahoo generate or pay for news content. Complacent Internet users will be getting their news from a paltry few sources that can survive this economy, and our knowledge and ability to understand and control our community, our country and the world will suffer.

For those dancing merrily on the grave of the Fourth Estate, a pillar of our Democracy, think again. Newspapers need public support, not just knee-jerk derision, if we're going to have an informed Republic.

[SILVANUS]

A system built on endless growth, endless consumption and the pursuit of 'happiness' that never comes (nor was ever promised-- just the "pursuit", babe)... go figure out what the people don't want to look at. The model is flawed.

[Witchitalineman]

The ST and their sister paper PI have long neglected reality. I hope it is the management that takes the majority of the financial hit but alas we know it will be the "ordinary" worker bee that actually does any work.

[VOTER]

BUSH AND CHENEY ASKED TO GIVE UP THEIR LIFETIME GOVERNMENT SALARIES,
SECURITY AND ALL FINANCIAL BENEFITS.

Why? The economy sucks and they have their War Profits and can take care of themselves.

Cheney responded, "F99K You!"

(Cheney is unaware of Citizens strong wish to pay for his food and housing for the
rest of his life. Same for Bush.)

A lawyer has recommended both men seriously consider the first offer as the second
one is more confining.

[thecanadian]

Think this is very creative and progressive thinking. - as long as Management and Staff do it!
Without the Newspaper industry, we would be beholden to the false face the Television! Save the written word!

[Witchitalineman]

Not true, don't we have online publications and the ability to connect via instruments like the HP to communicate with each other. I used to think I was alone in my thinking, not so and by God am I relieved to know I'm not!

[anandakos]

Lineman,

You may not know, but Google and MegaHard have bought in to "pay to play" on the internet, so you can expect sites like HuffingtonPost and CommonDreams to be available only at dial up speeds soon -- or not at all on the cable internet if the Roberts Brothers have their way.

The public access internet will soon go the way of the progressive newspaper. Bob Dylan said it best: "Money doesn't talk it screams".

[zizyphus]

The military will regain control of the entire internet, probably in our lifetimes.

[Witchitalineman]

I hope its the executive editorial staff that is asked to do it. Geez don't these papers get it, who would buy the paper with the crap that is usually printed. Right now I go online for all my needs, usually never ever buy a paper.

[maikonen]

True. For me too. And as I travel airports internationally, I see newstands doing less business and more laptops in the airport lounges. It is quite reasonable to believe that the growth of internet use is the bane of newsprint.

[zizyphus]

Historically, newspapers have been central to a viable democracy. Sure, we have the internet now, but what happens if the military takes command of the internet and there are no newspapers to even tell us what has happened?

Like one day, you boot up your computer to go online, and instead of your homepage, you see a message that says something like: "For national security reasons, the internet has been shut down. Anything you do on the computer will be tracked. Thank you for your co-operation."

I hate it when all you guys start trashing the papers. I love papers! Sure, the big ones are fairly corrupt now, but look then to your local alternative newspapers, those little weekly, monthly papers, often free, that really do some investigative reporting on your own locality's corruption. And to your small, hometown dailies, as well. Their endorsements for local politicians can be hugely instrumental in electing someone to office. We still need newspapers, now more than ever.

[Tamoomoo]

I would not be able to afford to do that.

[medicontheedge]

does anyone see the link at the end of this comment page? how to get rid of unions? their is a direct correlation between the decline of average workers wages, rights, and benefits and the decline of labor unions. WAKE UP YOU JERKS!!

[lissak]

Soon, we will be a country of serfs and feudal lords.

[larry278]

Veterans & VA employees now are serfs to the Director of a local VA facility who is the de facto lord of the manor.

[zizyphus]

We already are.

[rabiddog6708]

Most people don't know it, but you can file for unemployment benefits while still employed if you are full time and your hours are cut below your normal 40 hours.....the unemployment compensates you for the difference between the two.....those workers should not take voluntary time off, but have the employers cu back their hours so they caan file a claim. At least, they could recoup the lost wages......it will take some time to process, but they would recoup the lost wages.

[marijam]

I don't think that's correct since unemployment does not compensate you at 100% of your regular pay. It's only a percentage of your weekly pay. If the pay for the hours not worked during the week is lower than that percent, then no unemployment pay.

[rabiddog6708]

It is correct. My sister has been employed for the Employment Ofiice for the last 10 years, so I know what I am talking about.

[SeattleTony]

There is so much ignorance displayed in these comments that it's difficult to know where to begin. But I will try: 1) The Times is by far the better paper in Seattle, by any standard -- circulation (nearly twice as much), Pulitzer Prizes (7 to 2), and general assessment from the industry. Yes -- god forbid -- they endorse an occasional Republican, though mostly Democrats. 2) Many of their financial woes are due to being joined at the hip to Hearst's Post-Intelligencer, whose circulation has plummeted. 3) The family that owns the paper was one of the strongest voices for gay rights and affirmative action during the 1980s and '90s. 4) The paper has a great history of investigative reporting. Get a clue.

[Witchitalineman]

SeattleTony: They used to have great invstigative reporting but no more. The family who owns 50.5 or at least used to has let the Times go downhill particulary with their editorial endorsements, etc.

[SeattleTony]

You're just wrong. Two years ago they had two of the three finalists for the Pulitzer in investigative reporting. And they were just featured on Bill Moyer's show for an excellent investigation on earmarks.