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Was Employment News Good or Bad? Er, Yes
Not only are employers not hiring, but potential employees -- mostly babyboomers -- are dropping out of the workforce to care full time for elderly family members, while at the same time depleting their own (babyboomers') savings. No amount of an elder's savings can outlast increased life expectancy and increased health care costs. This system will bankrupt us all.— June 5, 2009 12:07 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
Here's another interesting commentary on the topic of online news content. http://industry.bnet.com/media/10002449/secret-me… The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) -- another group asleep at the wheel for too long.— June 2, 2009 7:42 a.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
Don, I respect your comments on my previous posts. My first-hand knowledge and experience was not as positive as yours, and left me with different conclusions regarding HR. Comment on post #24: As with the French Reign of Terror and the Bolshevik Revolution, many innocent heads rolled and innocents were murdered in the name of supposed "Bad Management." There were and probably still are some really incompetent managers at the Union-Tribune, but those are people so skilled at covering their tracks that there's no guarantee anyone will ever be on to them. In a contemporary parallel, I quote the eminently poetic Pete Townshend: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!" The Union-Tribune was and probably still is a severely dysfunctional organization.— June 1, 2009 1:03 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
Don, I think you give too much credit and deference to the function of Human Resources departments in corporate America. Although there are people who genuinely believe that the annual Employee Surveys are performed with the employees' interests at heart (and perhaps some HR people do it for that reason), I don't believe the motive at the U-T is as altruistic as your Post #18 above suggests. I have read elsewhere that these surveys are strategic instruments recommended by union-busting law firms (for example, King and Ballow) and are used to gauge and anticipate employee discontent that can morph into union organizing drives. My gut and experience tell me that is the intent. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the concept of collective bargaining, or whether a company wants to deal with unions, it is still employees' legal right to organize. Perhaps some folks are feeling nostalgic about the regime change in HR, and perhaps it will get worse under a new Director (Directoress). That said, "fairness" sounds like something out of Grimm's playbook, unless we are contrasting the U-T's HR department with say, the Taliban. Then I guess one could refer to U-T HR as a benign and benevolent organization. If all could speak freely, I believe a more documentary tale would be told. Other than that, I have never worked at a company where there wasn't some level of relationship (including sexual) intrigue related to power politics in the organization. This kind of thing is RAMPANT at the U-T, as it is elsewhere, and probably ever since Adam and Eve co-managed Eden (or so the story goes.) When media organizations start telling the truth internally, our democracy will be the better for it.— May 30, 2009 10:41 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
With Bobbie Espinosa gone, I suspect some other chiefs and chiefs-in-waiting will be vulnerable now. As far as employees being dealt with squarely -- it's a subjective assessment, and few employees really ever learn completely what goes on behind the scenes. As a former chief once remarked, "Perception is reality," which is an intriguing statement coming from the upper echelons of a media company.— May 29, 2009 2:44 p.m.
Laid-Off U-T Workers Told to Leave Friday, Will Be Paid until July 6
"However, if Hypotherm's business dried up . . . " ----------------------------------- Don, I can see that a no-layoff policy sounds too good to be true, and appreciate your point that they (Hypertherm) are vulnerable. That said, there has to be a better way than endless cycles of business expansion/contraction with layoffs/unemployment and more severe uncertainty and chaos than most human beings should have to endure in one lifetime. Maybe I need to subscribe to the Journal of Economic Utopias, or otherwise get over it. Hope you are feeling better and have a restful Memorial Day weekend.— May 22, 2009 10:18 p.m.
Laid-Off U-T Workers Told to Leave Friday, Will Be Paid until July 6
For PaperGirlSD and everyone else subject to layoff, here is a company (decidedly in the minority) with a more enlightened, employee-centered business model. New Hampshire company has "no-layoff" policy http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO113349 Perhaps the key to this type of win-win is competent management. Don, I know these types of companies are the exception to the rule, and welcome your thoughts about them.— May 22, 2009 1:42 p.m.
Laid-Off U-T Workers Told to Leave Friday, Will Be Paid until July 6
Here's the link again to the article referenced above: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/05/0…— May 20, 2009 4:24 p.m.
Laid-Off U-T Workers Told to Leave Friday, Will Be Paid until July 6
"Display advertising and the movies, though they may dull the wits, certainly stimulate the eyes." John Dos Passos -------------------------------------------------------------- What is needed in our 21st-century brave new world? Leaders who can act decisively and adapt rapidly to changing conditions without "taking it to" (as in abandoning) the human beings who make these profitable business ventures possible. Globe publisher talks about newspaper's prospects http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/ 05/08/globe_publisher_talks_about_newspapers_prospects/?page=1 In this Q&A with the Boston Globe's publisher, P. Steven Ainsley says "It's a tougher nut to crack, but we're exploring how we can find some model that allows us to effectively gain some revenues from our online effort, from Boston.com. It remains to be seen just how we do that because I'm not convinced anyone has really figured that out yet." After more than a decade of online presence, if as Ainsley says, " . . it remains to be seen just how we do that . . .", why in the world is he still the publisher? These are the people who are sinking newspapers.— May 20, 2009 4:04 p.m.
Platinum Equity Names New Union-Tribune Publisher with Reputation for Cuts
I agree with anon5 that many, many good people work outside of the Newsroom and usually are overlooked in discussions about job losses at newspapers. As early as 2001-02, cost-cutting measures were being mandated in at least one division of the U-T. Those cuts included eliminating full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions by attrition, process improvements, and cross-training. The goals then were budget cuts of 10 percent (on average) annually. This was happening many years before the dramatic buyout/layoff cycles that began in 2006 and led up to the sale to Platinum Equity and the post-purchase announcement of another 192 layoffs. When businesses are run in favor of rewarding an elite, self-preserving management at the expense of the front line employees and the survival of the organization, someone ought to drive a stake through the heart of the enablers. Newspapers at their best offer visionary, commonsense, and effective management at all levels and across all divisions, producing exemplary journalism and ethical and honest treatment of all employees. In a relatively resilient metro region of the U.S. like San Diego, the human resources, capital investment and the potential of the U-T were squandered in a dysfunctional and destructive organizational culture where the health of the company was sacrificed to a selfish subset of sycophants. I wish David Copley could have understood this better because if he had, he would be a wealthier man today with a still-thriving newspaper. The decline of the Union-Tribune represents a collosal waste of capital and human investment.— May 16, 2009 1:01 a.m.