Friday, December 15, 2006

It's Official

Hey Folks,

After months of rumors, y'all probably heard the news today, but for those of you who're out of the office, MediaNews finally got its hands on the Daily Breeze (http://www.dailynews.com/ci_4847248). Let's hope the company treats their employees with the respect they've begun to offer us, rather than an ugly rerun of the Mercury News purchase.

And since this blog gets read elsewhere, if there are any Daily Breeze staffers out there checking us out: welcome to the company and we'll look forward to working with you. If there's anything we can do to make the transition go more smoothly, please let us know. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you.

-Brent

Monday, December 11, 2006

Dec. 11 Day of Action

Hey Guys,

As a follow-on for last week's support of our coworkers at the San Jose Mercury News, The Newspaper Guild has organized a national day of action today to remind people of the drastic job cuts seen in the last few years. Whether it's the layoffs and job freezes we've seen right here at the Daily News, the cuts down at the Press-Telegram, the ones threatened across town at the Times, we've seen far too much of this locally and nationwide.

Whenever news of the cuts comes out and makes the rounds on the journalism Web sites, it's easy to shrug your shoulders and figure that as long as it wasn't your job that it's no big deal. It's a very big deal, whether it's at our own paper, our company or even our competitors. Each job lost makes the business smaller and a harder place to compete. For those of us who'd like to make this a career, it's becoming an increasingly tight and bleak landscape.

And that's a shame, something that I think that people outside of the business can't really appreciate. It's not just that these thousands of cuts take food off the tables of families. Every time we get stretched more thinly, that's less news we can cover and less service we can offer to the public. Newspapers have played a crucial role in our democracy since this country was just a bunch of maligned colonies, so the worse they're pared down to maximize profits, the worse off the country becomes.

So with that in mind, if you've got some time today, drop by my desk. I'll have stickers we can wear that the Guild has put out and, if you're available at 2:30 p.m., come on over and whomever's interested in learning more, I'll buy you all coffee across the street. It's a very small thing compared with some of the actions planned nationwide (http://www.savejournalism.org/), but let's use a few minutes out of our day to talk about ways we can remind our company, our industry, and most importantly, our readers about why our jobs are indispensible and why these cuts cannot continue.

Thanks for your support and I'll see you later on today.

-Brent

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Daily Breeze Sale

Hey Guys,

Just a quick note, in case you guys missed it yesterday. Looks like the long-rumored deal for MediaNews to pick up the Daily Breeze is close to completion:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/4862761.html

LAObserved reported later in the day that there'd been some sort of hold-up, however, so your guess is as good as mine as to when it'll really go down. Whatever the case, I'll keep you posted on whatever I hear.

-Brent

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Support "Black Monday" for San Jose on Dec. 4th

Hey Guys,

Tomorrow, Dec. 4th, our coworkers in San Jose are going to experience one of the cruelest, most terrible ways to ring in the holiday season that I can imagine. MediaNews, after purchasing the Mercury News as an industry leader and supposed jewel of its California empire, will begin gutting its staff with up to 69 layoffs of union positions.

Some of you mentioned the posting that made LA Observed on Friday, which can be linked to here: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/blogs/?p=489#more-489. As if it weren't bad enough that they're cutting these people's jobs right before Christmas, they're forcing the entire staff to stay home and await phone calls to tell them whether they'll come in to work or whether they'll be allowed to clean out their desks on a weekend.

If there were a textbook called "How to Kill Employee Morale," this would be a featured lesson. Our layoffs a few weeks ago were terrible, make no mistake, but there was at least an attempt to minimize the cuts and to take care of the affected people. This is an awful reminder that no matter how things are going for us -- and they could certainly stand to be a lot better, don't get me wrong-- that this corporation is not afraid to employ ruthless, soul-less plans to achieve its financial goals. And that in times like this, we have to rely on each other for support.

With that in mind, I hope you'll join in this call for unity with our friends to the north that I've attached below. Tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 4th, workers at other papers across the state and elsewhere in the country will be wearing black clothes and armbands to show the people who're getting laid off and those who'll be left endure a stripped-down operation that we haven't forgotten them.

These are the same people who've helped us look for jobs for our own laid-off employees. We've met them in other newsrooms, competed with them on beats, run into them at holiday parties, known them from college. They're in the same shoes we were six weeks ago, only their predicament is much worse. So if you've got a black shirt, black pants, black hat, anything that you can wear tomorrow, we can send them a message that they're not alone.

Whether you're a union member or not, please consider this request-- these people have been there for us, now this is the least we can do to show them the same respect. Thank you, as always. You guys have made the last six weeks a lot easier to stomach, so keep up that good work.

-Brent

forwarded message below:
----------------

November 29, 2006

Wear black to support
San Jose Guild members
on Monday, December 4

Dear Minnesota Guild members,

I've attached a message below that was forwarded to us yesterday by Luther
Jackson, administrative officer of the San Jose Newspaper Guild. Leaders of
that local have been working non-stop to prepare for as many as 69 layoffs
that are to occur at the MediaNews-owned San Jose Mercury News next week;
more Guild jobs are expected to lost to outsourcing in the spring. You can
learn more by visiting the local's website at www.sjguild.org.

In a demonstration scheduled for Monday, December 4, Guild members in San
Jose will be wearing black to show their support for co-workers who will
lose their jobs. We're asking that Minnesota Guild members at the Star
Tribune and the Pioneer Press show their support for and solidarity with our
brothers and sisters in San Jose by wearing black, too, on Monday, December
4.

Monday's event will be a prelude to a national day of action scheduled one
week later on Monday, December 11, about which you'll be hearing more from
your unit leaders in the coming days. To learn more about actions planned
for that date, please visit www.savejournalism.org.

Thanks in advance for wearing black on December 4 to support laid off
workers in San Jose.

Darren Carroll
Executive officer
Minnesota Newspaper Guild

www.shoptalknet.org


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

>>> "Luther Jackson" Luther@SJGuild.org> 11/28/2006 12:02 PM >>

Next week, the Mercury News will tell as many as 69 Guild members they will
be out of a job by December 19.

Personally and professionally, we will miss each of them. They have been
friends and coworkers who have helped make the Merc an outstanding paper and
a special place at which to work. They and those of us remaining, who will
be expected to do their jobs, as well as our own, deserve better.

Out of respect for them, your leadership at the Guild is asking all members
to wear black to work on Monday, December 4. Doing so will be both a
tribute to them and a silent, important show of unity. This solidarity
action will also show our concerns about the impact of job cuts on quality
and customer service.

These are difficult times for the Mercury News and for our union. It is
critical that we stand behind members of our bargaining team as they
negotiate to protect us from carte blanche consolidation that would put all
of our jobs at risk.

Wearing black will signal that they have our confidence and support.

If black isn't your style, we will have black armbands for you. Your
mobilizer should be in contact with you this week.

We also have plenty of Save the Merc bumper stickers, which we encourage you
to put on our car or hand to a friend of the Merc.

Thanks,

John Fensterwald (editorial)
Bill Russell (advertising)
Co-Chairs, Guild Strategy/Community Outreach Committee
________________________________

Luther Jackson
Executive Officer, San Jose Newspaper Guild
TNG/CWA Local 39098
Luther@SJGuild.org
www.SJGuild.org