Updated
We have received a TSF tip like this before that fizzled, so for what it is worth:
(One tipster says June 9, another says July 9.)
"This is totally off topic, but I want to know if any other branch has been told that PKP has called a 'town hall' meeting for sales, publishers and editors.
"It's a 'must' attend event. (It's) rumoured that one employee who will be in Phoenix at the time is flying all the way back just for this meeting. Wonder what it's for?"
Stay tuned.
We have received a TSF tip like this before that fizzled, so for what it is worth:
(One tipster says June 9, another says July 9.)
"This is totally off topic, but I want to know if any other branch has been told that PKP has called a 'town hall' meeting for sales, publishers and editors.
"It's a 'must' attend event. (It's) rumoured that one employee who will be in Phoenix at the time is flying all the way back just for this meeting. Wonder what it's for?"
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, July 9 in Barrie. All managers have been asked to attend.
ReplyDeleteSorry...June 9
ReplyDeleteall of Ontario is going to have these meetings. This should be fun???
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's easier to get everyone together to tell them how we will do more with even less. One can only wonder what a nightmare this will be. Can it be good news? hahaha sorry anyone that reads this blog knows that there is little in the way of good news with PKP at the helm.
Didn't the Captin of the Titanic call everyone together to tell them there were not enough lifeboats?
Ours has been called for July 9 in Edmonton, Alberta. Seems strange that they would ask Editors...PKP usually doesn't care about editorial. This just sounds like a nightmare and a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteAlways look on the bright side of life,
ReplyDeletede dum de dum
It could be PKP is going to announce he was wrong. That cutting journalists is not the way to go. That the $950M price tag for CanWest shows there's a future in newspapers and he's going to an about face and start investing in the titles.
Hey, it could happen....
Okay, back to smoking crack now.
LOL. Re: the Titanic comment.
ReplyDeleteIf you hear violins playing, yes, head for the exits! Never mind PKP. The captain always goes down with his ship
Everyone hold on looks like another dream of PKP. How many times can we change direction...oops who can tell me the direction we're going now? anyone?
ReplyDeleteHe'll probably fire all the managers and editors and state the pages will be designed in India.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't surprise me at all.
I'm not sure what's worse - working for PKP or reading the comments on many of these posts. It baffles me how the majority of posters can have such a low opinion of their employer and yet remain with the company. Jeff Gaulin's board has a number of jobs posted, as does Metroland. If you don't like the company, or the owner, leave. The rest of us would be grateful. I don't have to like what direction we are going, I don't have to like the cuts, I don't have to agree with the decisions. BUT... Until I can no longer come to work every day and still love the profession I'm in, regardless of who I work for, I will respect the decisions, and I will make the best of my situation.
ReplyDeleteObviously there are too many people commenting here that aren't too eager to give up the $50, $60, $70k or more, 5 or 6 weeks holidays, and solid union protection that keeps their hours to 37.5. And I guess that's why you won't be rushing out for the Metroland and Jeff Gaulin weekly positions because you might actually have to remember what real work was like when you put in 60 or 70 hours a week for $25 or $30k.
If you don't like the "sinking ship" as some call it - get off the boat!
@ 10:32 We could only hope. Start fresh with people who are willing to stand up and make a really good paper. Get rid of the ones who sit in their offices promoting mediocrity, jumping on and ridiculing employees who want to be the best in this industry and want to proud of the paper they work for. Get rid of the ones who can't see past their noses for lack of vision when it comes to making a great newspaper. Wow I'm really dreaming on this one. Actually they will all be promoted their lack of vision and incompetence.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably just the standard Sun Media rally cry event:
ReplyDelete"I know you lowly proles all despise the company, but this fun NEW direction we're going in (cue scary Powerpoint presentation - Nazi symbology - scenes of ritual sacrifice, etc) will dramatically re-shape our organization for the future! Monetize! Synergize! Exorcize! All hail PKP!"
Everyone will then cheer and clap at gunpoint and trudge home to their dreary day job, then wait for the usual Russian roulette routine that signals Pierre Karl's latest ideal of 'progress.'
Who will get the pink slip this time? Will it be me? Will it be the guy in the next cubicle? OOoh! It's SO exciting!
Re: Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what's worse . . . .
I am not sure where you work, but I know that in Alberta it is a little but harder to find a job, and some one us still have a little but of the memory lefy of what newspapers used to be. Most of us have spent 5-15 years and have no where else to go. Must be nice to be able to just quit when the going gets tough. Can I come work for you?
As for PKP's visit, Lord only knows what that half wit will do to the rest of the people who are "lucky enough" to work for this company, or what is left of it.
@ 9:45
ReplyDeleteLove the job, hate my employer, stuck for now but searching the boards for a way out every day. Until then I will continue to tell it like it is and refuse to be a meek little sheep who won't speak out when something is seriously wrong. It's called ethics, pride and caring about the product and the name that goes on it.
>> Obviously there are too many people commenting here that aren't too eager to give up the $50, $60, $70k or more, 5 or 6 weeks holidays, and solid union protection that keeps their hours to 37.5. And I guess that's why you won't be rushing out for the Metroland and Jeff Gaulin weekly positions because you might actually have to remember what real work was like when you put in 60 or 70 hours a week for $25 or $30k.
ReplyDeleteMany know what real work like that is like. That's why many started out with such salaries and have advanced to the higher ones to make a better living for themselves financially. And some would love to jump ship if they could -- opportunities like that are limited. Not because of the 'real work' for less pay, but some can't afford that kind of a paycut without some other shortcoming (standard of living, for instance).
9:45 am..... How's this: if PKP announces on July 9 that he's going to start an honest and sincere 2010 campaign to have Quebecor named one of 'Canada's 50 Best Employers to Work For', we'll all get behind the effort if there's proof that this company is going to start caring about how it treats people.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, don't shoot the messengers. You should know that, if you're in the media business
The Metroland commmunity papers actually pay a bit better then a lot of smaller Sun Media dailies, at least based on the information put together by the union for our most recent contract negotiations. Starting pay for a copy editor at the Mississauga News, for example, is $47,000 a year, which I'm not sure that many of the old Osprey papers can match
ReplyDeleteto the person that thinks anyone makes 50,60 or 70k and works 37.5. Come on everyone does more with less and happy to do it, hoping beyond all else that PKP will see the hard work and tireless effort of those remaining after all the cuts. Circulation is dropping, Advertising is far lower than anyone could think. They have a mortgage, car payments and I'm sure a few alimoney payments because of the long hours. Oh and by the way, the Captain of the Titanic was the one that lead to the disaster, not the guy in boiler room stoking the fires. Who ended up paying in the end?
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 9:45: Bravo. No exclamation because it was a little harsh, but still fair. We've all been here for years and, speaking for myself, will stay until circumstances — whatever they may be — dictate otherwise. Understand me, I'm not an apologist for what has happened or for whomever bears responsibility (and "water cooler chat" notwithstanding, placing responsibility may be a little more complicated than we like to think), but I've had worse jobs and worse bosses, and suffered under both for far less money. I know people at other papers — good papers — who are dealing with the same things we are, and people in other industries who are dealing with worse. I don't want to lose my job any more than the next guy, but until then, if "then" ever comes, I'm glad I have it.
ReplyDelete@11:22
ReplyDeleteI have never worked for a worse employer and Like I said earlier, love the job, hate the employer and the embarrassing crap they make me do. I'm glad your happy with mediocrity and strive for nothing else. You will be promoted to managment in no time at all.
to Anonymous at 9:45 and again at 11:22
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, it's hard for me to take seriously someone who, with all that "pride" that won't allow them to be "a meek little sheep" and the "ethics" that makes them "tell it like it is", signs their posts as Anonymous. My employer is the same as yours, and as anyone who knows me can tell you, I ain't going to be promoted to management anytime soon.
Speaking as someone who left the sinking ship after almost 20 years ... I still have nightmares.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the new job is wonderful, the boss is great, the pay is comparable and I am HAPPY for the first time in about two years.
I love going to work again. The change has been a dose of wonderful tonic.
Don't feel trapped. Keep looking. We all deserve to happy at work.
Anonymous@9:45 a.m. sounds like someone who doesn't pay a mortgage, have many financial responsibilities in life, etc...
ReplyDeleteI love what I do, I earn my salary.
I've had two sick days in 20 years with Sun Media/Osprey/Thomson.
I don't need some 20-something telling me I should go back to working 70 hours a week for $25K.
I try to go above and beyond in my job, regardless of what I think of the ownership decisions, I don't need to be talked down to by someone who I suspect still lives with his mom.
'I'm glad 'your' happy with mediocrity'? Shit, that's funny. Glad you're striving for excellence, buddy. Oh, and it's management, not managment.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous who posted June 7, 2010 9:45 AM
ReplyDeleteWhat paper are you working at?
Ask the western weeklies how their staff feels about your $50k, $60k, or $70k salary, your union, your 4-6 week holidays and your 37.5 hours a week.
Ask those reporters how they feel about working for less than $40k and not getting to take their holidays (or working double time to get twice as many stories done the week before) because the paper isn't allowed to hire another reporter and everyone's already working 50 to 60 hours a week so no one can cover their time.
There's no union for Sunmedia reporters out here. It's getting harder and harder to love their profession when every day is a reminder of how it used to be -- working for less than $40k but getting to take their holidays and getting to take more weekends off than they had to work.
All 15 national postings on Gaulin's site aren't enough for all the unhappy reporters in Central Alberta. They ARE applying for jobs... jobs that at least 10 other journalists are applying for.
Let's not get into all the composing departments who lost their jobs, and all the sales staff who now have to send ads to understaffed "composing hubs" to be built, or the front office staff who have suddenly become office managers and accounting managers on top of everything else they have to do.
I DID get out, and I'm happy I did, but a "quit whining and get a new job" attitude isn't fair.
50k, 60k, or 70k salaries? As a former loyal, but victimized, sun media editor, I would be happy to be earning 40k and working in the job I love. It is impossible to stay loyal to an employer for whom you are a a number and a pair of hands - not even competent ones - no brain required. Have you read the sun's packaged news pages lately? In Niagara, errors on pages put together by the pagination "centre of excellence" in St. Catharines would make me cry - if I still worked there. I don't, so I don't have to read the paper or observe basic design mistakes offered to customers every day. But at the same time, competition for available media jobs is very tough. If you can get out and you have a plan, do it, and let those of us who would still strive for excellence do so - even for an employer like Sun Media - just because we love the job.
ReplyDelete@ 12:06 June 9 2010.
ReplyDeleteI am one of the best at what I do in this country and it's not writing. I know it is hard for some writers to think the only job at the paper is reporting. I have won many awards and not the piddly little Dunlops I'm taking about going up against every newspaper and wire service in Canada. The last 4 years I have come out on top year after year. So yes I strive for excellence, have pride and ethics. I don't sign my name because my bosses will harass me and make work worse than it already is. That being said, I do speak my mind and will not hide like a meek little sheep when I know there is something ethically wrong. If I go yelling on the boards with my name it gives them leverage against me and until I find my way out, I don't need the extra hassles.
Sun Media is much like this and after a few years most come to this realization.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/necktie/