An anonymous TSF reader explains why his/her comments are anonymous:
"If there were other jobs out there - in any field - I'd be happy to put my name here. Since jobs are few and far between and I like to pay rent, put gas in my car and have some food every now then, I'll keep my name out and keep my pay cheque.
"I am sure you'll find most people that post anonymously are in the same boat.
"Try and tell a manager, publisher or anyone else high up in the chain that closing offices, cutting back hours, cutting staff, etc. is hurting the paper and you'll get blank stares, outright hostility, or someone who sticks to the company mantra that 'it's happening everywhere and we have to live it.'
"You're right, we shouldn't be fearful, but we are. I'm vocal as hell and I count myself lucky that they have not targeted me as yet. I'd love to work for a company that understood newspapers, but I'm stuck at one that doesn't.
"Clearly this company doesn't get the fact that the changes it is making are hurting the papers. When circulation numbers start to drop, they'll lay off more people and the paper will hurt more. And numbers will drop more and they'll lay off more.
"Quebecor doesn't think there is a correlation between less staff, dumb office hours, piss-poor customer service and declining circulation.
"PKP is killing papers because he can, because he is a dictator, because he listens to the ass kissers that surround him and to the voices in his head that tell him he's on the right track.
"Someone in the past at a paper somewhere must have really pissed him off. Or he just wants to drain what money he can for a future failed attempt at a hockey team, or for his future failed cellphone network in one province."
Thank you for your comments, Anonymous.
Amen.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it any better myself - and I am one of the ones that got his wrist slapped (although it was more of a finger-wagging naughty boy type thing) after one of the higher ups blew a gasket when they found out what got 'tipped' on TSF.
ReplyDeleteBiggest mistake was not allowing Michael Sifton to do his job. Third generation of a newspaper family and a person that valued "human" resources. Pierre Karl Peladeau is non of the above. What made Bowes Publishers the best kept success story in publishing and why was Osprey so well run? Because the people at the top allowed management to make the best decisions for their branches at the community level. PKP will never understand this concept and hence the destuction of this organization.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Michael Sifton is considering opening a paper or two?
ReplyDeleteAfter the buy-out he got, I wouldn't be surprised if he just spent the next thirty years slumming it around the Caribbean in his yacht.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Bowes WAS a great company, run by a great FAMILY of (gasp!) newspaper people.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers will return to community ownership after PKP destroys Canada's industry. The corporatizing of newspapers has been a cycle that is about to close and begin again with independent ownership.
I can't wait.
Rumour has it the non-competitive clause in Sifton's buy out ends in November....
ReplyDeleteWell if the layoff rumour is right, then Sifton will have a lot journalists to hire....let's hope he's got a company ready to go and have newspapers in all the cities he used to with Osprey.
ReplyDeleteOk, so it probably will never happen, but one can dream, can't one?
No wait, PKP took away dreams like he did staff, cable TV, water coolers, staff, cleaning services, did I mention staff, office hours......etc
My Quebecor plant is maybe 2 weeks from "Layoff"
ReplyDeletePoor Management, lack of "Forward Thinking", unrealistic goals, over-reduction of staff,no employee involvement in reaching goals, and a "Flawed" bonus system for management all
contributed to the demise of my company.
It is my wish to see companies shed their "Top-heavy" management, and move to a communal type business direction.
We all are an important part of a bigger picture, we all have something to give to our employer. It's unfortunate I won't have the opportunity to participate, should this happen.
I wish all Quebecor/Ospey employees still working, a long stretch of employment.