What are they going to do about the reporter rotations? We're 11 people short now. Will projects people be included in the rotations--how can they not be? Many of us don't mind getting the overtime (and many of us are now the sole supporters in our homes), but I can't imagine they'll keep paying OT every weekend, holiday etc. Clerks are already short and having to rotate regularly. What's the plan here?
Speaking for myself that's a very good question.
While I like the occaisional OT, we've gone from doing two or three a month to having a weekend rotation every two months or so. It will be even less now.
ReplyDeleteHas management indicated what will happen? One idea would be to make some of these soon-to-be newly minted reporters work a weekend shift every week. Usually, that's what the new/young reporters do, but they fired almost all of them.
Two or three a year ... not a month, I mean
ReplyDeleteLook for the UNION Label...ooops, too late.
ReplyDeleteSome of us were around when the weekend rotations began. The bosses pledged it would just be two or three weekends a year. That was two or three more Czech festivals than I wanted to work after many years at the paper, but I did it. Some of us havent been eligible for overtime for years. The current situation is unfair but not the fault of those who have worked hard for many years to get where they are. We used to aspire to that status. Sure wish we could quit cannibalizing each other.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's cannablism to ask what are we going to do so short handed. I realize not every department had to suffer a loss. But some did--BIG TIME. Getting OT, at my wage rate anyway, doesn't mean jack and doesn't compare to several salaries in our newsroom. This isn't the newspaper of 20 years ago. It's not up to the rest of us to pull the weight of others who've "aspired" above a weekend cops shift, or a Sunday night GA shift. Why is that beneath anyone to do? Why aren't people pitching in to help other departments? Take a look at your colleagues that are pulling six and 7 day shifts, 12 hour days, answering phones, editing, juggling everything. Yes, maybe some of us did work hard and did that early in our career and don't think we should have to do it again, but that's not reality folks. We don't have the privilege of only working two to three weekend shifts a year. We don't have half the staff to even do that. I hope this is a topic at tomorrow's pizza party. Let me know. I can't spare the $5 donation right now. I'm saving it for parking.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was here, Craig Flournoy worked his weekend rotations like everybody else. Without complaining. Nobody left in the building now is any more elevated a reporter than Craig was. Time for Projects and Narrative or whatever that other cluster is called to be put in the rotation.
ReplyDeleteBelieving that you are of a certain status and shouldn't help out on weekend shifts - with that mentality those folks should have taken a buyout agreement. In these times everyone must chip in and I don't even work for the Dallas Morning News. Just a member of the public who appreciates the fine work that is put out. But it seems management and those others who believe are highter up need to get off their pedestals and start cranking out stories. Because eventually there will be more layoffs. I hope you chip in now to avoid these layoffs and work together as a team. No egos allowed.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if RD will volunteer to work a weekend shift. It might help him get in the paper every few months or so.
ReplyDeleteHey, anonymous 12:41.
ReplyDeleteI take it this a personal shot is at me. I'm the only RD on the projects team.
I don't dispute that I haven't been in the paper this last year. But I've most definitely been working on something, as well as helping coordinate the launch of a new blog. My chain of command knows it full well, too.
If you wanna know about it, come talk to me. I'll be more than happy to share. Or you can talk to my chain of command.
As for weekend shifts, you may or may not know it, but my first two years (from 1999 to 2001) included a 3-to-midnight every Sunday. That's at least 80 to 100 weekend shifts under my belt in two years' time. Then I'd spend four days in my suburban bureau, writing an average of four stories a week.
It's too bad this blog is devolving into worker bees attacking one another. I understand you're angry. I'm angry, too. I lost friends last week.
Bagging on me doesn't solve the broad problems that our paper faces. But I hope you got it out of your system.
Yours in Belo,
Reese Dunklin
12:41, you are totally out of line. No personal attacks. Had I seen it before Reese answered I would have killed the comment.
ReplyDeleteReese, all you say is no doubt true. But there are plenty of us on the rotation who also paid dues. With the shrinking pool of reporters, it may be that having a large group out of the rotation is a relatively recent luxury we can no longer afford..
This is ridiculous to see personal attacks. We're all on the sinking ship together. Some people will need the OT because of pay cuts and layoffs in their household. Maybe there should be a system to take volunteers first. Or at least the ability to give your shift to someone who needs the money.
ReplyDeleteI think you can let someone else take your shift.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the laid off was also working on launching a new blog.
ReplyDeleteAbout the resentment aimed at some projects reporters:
ReplyDeleteI am not one. Don't want to be. But I recognize that it takes a lot longer to prepare a banquet than cook a grilled cheese sandwich. If we want complex stories investigated -- and I say we do as a profession and a nation -- those take a commitment of time and bodies. Some of those investigations take months or even more than a year. While I think it is reasonable for those reporters to be part of the pool for the ocassional weekend shift, I think it's total idiocy to complain about byline counts if what is eventually published turns out to be good. And frankly, sometimes if not. Sometimes what looks like a live story gets reported into a non-story. That's important work, too.
Uh, yeah, Reese, I've done that 3 to midnight Sunday shift, too. But that was part of my regular work schedule, and I didn't end up working six days every week, as I suspect you didn't, either. The people who are in the rotation pool now work six days those week, because there's no one left to cover their beats on traditional work days.
ReplyDelete