Tag Archives: David Black

Meanwhile, back at the Star-Advertiser

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It was officially announced yesterday that Ben Wood, Helen Altonn and Mary Adamski are leaving the newspaper as of July 30 after agreeing to voluntary buyouts that are said to include the maximum severance called for in the Guild contract.

I’m told Frank Bridgewater pointed out that between the three, they have more than 150 years combined experience.

“Our loss,” says one friend in the newsroom.

Earlier, I received this comment/complaint from a Starvertiser staffer.

Some lower management types were put back in the union, but now have one day — one day! — seniority over the Advertiser hires. They weren’t given a choice. So some people who have been here more than a decade are now technically only been here five weeks. Earlier, some people were made management (without any managing duties) simply to make them easier to dispose of.

And a proposal to merge the Hawaii Newspaper Guild with a number of other bargaining units has been moving forward.

Members of the Executive Committee of the Media Workers Guild endorsed a merger outline Saturday that could create a powerhouse communications local in the West, uniting the San Francisco-based Guild, the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and Oakland-based CWA Local 9415.

The tentative outline suggests the merged local be called the Pacific Communications and Media Guild. It would be a diverse alliance, one of the largest in the CWA, with more than 5,000 members drawn from industries including newspapers, language services, broadcasting, cable TV and regional, long-distance and cellular telephone service.

The units involved: Hawaii Newspapers (three bargaining units), Hearst (San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate), MediaNews Group (three bargaining units), McClatchy Newspapers (three bargaining units), California Federation of Interpreters (four regions), Printing Trades (multiple units), Guild Freelancers, New Media (online news and nonprofits), Radio and TV (KPFA), Cable Communications (Comcast), Telephone (Bell legacy), Long-Distance (AT&T), Mobile Communications, Manufacturing, etc.

And, speaking of California, former Advertiser & Star-Bulletin reporter Rick Daysog certainly hit the ground running in his new job at the Sacramento Bee. Check out his rapidly growing story list.

Former newspaper employees in 60-day limbo

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The Star-Bulletin and Advertiser may be history, and hundreds of former employees now out of work, but those who didn’t get 60 days notice of their terminations apparently can’t just get on with their lives.

Federal law, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, requires a large employer like Oahu Publications to give employees 60 days notice if they are going to lose their jobs. Many, perhaps most, employees didn’t get the full 60 days. Maybe nobody did, for all I know.

But instead of just cutting them loose and making the required payments, Oahu Publications has apparently told employees they are considered “on call” for unspecified duties for the 60 days. And what this means is that they can’t take other jobs without forfeiting the pay and benefits they’re due.

The worst part seems to be the uncertainty and continued lack of clear information from the company.

According to an email circulating among those who distributed the Advertiser:

We have not been able to pin HA down on the guidelines of this “On Call” scenario. No agreement on at least 1, 6, 12, 24 or 48 hr notice, no agreement on what would happen if you do not answer their phone call or are unable to work due to a previously planned event or your other job schedule. You could be fired and forfeit WARN for any or all of these circumstances. HA says that they will deal with them as they happen. In other words, they will be the judge, jury and executioner.

Below is the full email circulating among non-newsroom employees, but I’m told folks in the newsroom got the same information.

from HA spokesman Cliff Jamile last night, no one has yet been terminated. We are all call till end of the 60 day WARN pay period (60 day notice or 60 days pay). We may be called to do some currently undetermined work that should be unrelated to your past job(i.e. district managers should not be delivering papers, spotting, recruiting, soliciting etc.). Working ANY NEW JOB that replaces the job you had at the advertiser will be in essence informing HA that you have RESIGNED FROM YOUR POSITION AT HA and have therefore relinquished your right to the full 60 day warn payment that the fed government requires HA to pay.

ILWU spokesperson Dave Mori: “Until HA can clarify this situation, we are going to tell our DM’s (district managers) not to take outside work unless they wish to resign (from HA and forfeit warn). Furthermore, Full time DM’s who accepted independent agencies have resigned and thus will not get full warn pay and medical. This is our interpretation, if it is wrong, please let us know before it gets out.”

Twice there was no response to this statement from spokesperson Jamile.

SOME IMPORTANT EXAMPLES OF WHAT WOULD TRIGGER THIS SECENARIO

District Managers who have chosen to take independent agencies have in essence resigned from their position at HA and therefore will NOT BE GETTING THE FULL 60 DAY WARN PAY AND MEDICAL.

Any cash work done for by p/t single copy dms to put Star Advertiser racks out before the roll out of the new paper will be telling HA they have resigned and have therefore FORFEITED THE FULL 60 DAY WARN PAY.

Any work done by any HA employee for past or newly created independent Home Delivery Agents will be telling HA that you have resigned and you WILL NOT BE GETTING THE FULL 60 DAY WARN PAY.

As mentioned previously, this on call work should be unrelated to your past job duties. BUT, if ordered to do something, you should just do it. Saying no could be judged to be insubordination and you could be fired, forfeiting your warn pay.

We have not been able to pin HA down on the guidelines of this “On Call” scenario. No agreement on at least 1, 6, 12, 24 or 48 hr notice, no agreement on what would happen if you do not answer their phone call or are unable to work due to a previously planned event or your other job schedule. You could be fired and forfeit WARN for any or all of these circumstances. HA says that they will deal with them as they happen. In other words, they will be the judge, jury and executioner. This is how things are when you are “at will” or “non-union” situation.

If you find any meaningful employment that could possibly pay you LESS then the amount you would get under the 60 day warn notice, you should ask your new employer if you can delay starting your new job until the HA 60 day warn period is over.

Through it all HA has continued to REFUSE to release us from this “on call” status so that we may go on with out lives. And has refused to answer any questions about why they are doing this.

Welcome to another one-newspaper city

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And now it begins. The monopoly is here.

Clients that formerly had printing done by the old MidWeek presses are now hearing what their new rates will be after the Star-Advertiser consolidation.

I’m told Honolulu Weekly, which has been printed by Oahu Publications, was told that its rates would be going up somewhere in the neighborhood of 20%, and that it would have to be reduced to the size of Advertiser’s TGIF weekend section (which I measure as 10-1/2 x 11 inches). Smaller size, less space for advertising, less income.

And others have gotten worse news. One local classifieds publication, a competitor to the Advertiser’s Pennysaver, reportedly was quoted a rate almost double what they previously paid.

I understand that Honolulu Weekly has responded by taking their printing to the Maui News, complete with a new schedule set by Young Brothers for delivery to Honolulu.

Former Star-Bulletin advertisers are probably also going to be facing similar increases, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing about those soon enough.

And back at the Star-Bulletin newsroom, soon to be the Star-Advertiser, at least one staffer has been removing items posted by friends on their Facebook wall, worried about management surveillance.

“Our social media activity is being watched more carefully these days,” the staffer commented to a friend.

Sam Slom, writing in Hawaii Reporters yesterday, described plans to increase the HR footprint.

Watch for new features, more investigative reporting, emphasis on Neighbor Island news and some familiar names soon as we attempt to rescue some good reporters who were laid off by the new paper. Go to our website, http://www.savehawaiinews.com and if you have an idea, a comment, or suggestions, sign up and join the community advisory board.

We are also negotiating for a web press and a commercial site for an expanded media center. There will be a printed side-by-side edition (weekly initially) to the online Reporter, and greater use of technology and local reporters’ talents.

More interesting are Slom’s description of conditions of the unsuccessful “sale” of the Star-Bulletin.

According to Slom, no inventory of equipment was available, the press was offered without maintenance/repair records, the sale included only the starbulletin.com domain but not its archive or web site, audited financials were not available, etc., etc. Very interesting.

I also flagged this item about the Advertiser closing from the Seattle Weekly, and another from the Reality Bites Back blog.

There’s a message from Dayton Morinaga urging paddlers to contact the Star-Advertiser to urge coverage of ocean sports.

My fear now is that coverage of ocean sports will be downsized at this new newspaper.

While I respect my colleagues at the Star-Bulletin, their coverage of ocean sports has been inconsistent. They have not had a full-time reporter write stories on ocean sports for several years now and are currently covering it with “freelancers.”

Hawaii’s state sports truly deserve better.

And so it goes.

Honolulu Advertiser employees desperate for information about conditions and consequences of the newspaper’s sale

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The Newspaper Guild reports it has gotten nowhere in bargaining with Gannett over the effects of the upcoming sale of the Honolulu Advertiser.

Both the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the ILWU have filed grievances against the company for transferring the severance pay obligation from the Advertiser to Oahu Publications Inc. Other unions are expected to file like grievances.

To date the company has rejected all attempts by the unions for so-called effects bargaining. The Company was unable to make any decision again, despite stating previously that the bargaining committee had authority to make decisions.

No word on the lastest meeting, which was scheduled to be held this past Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Advertiser employees are lacking even the most basic information about the sale and transition.

In an email sent to Advertiser publisher Lee Webber and copied to Gannett’s top executives, Advertiser staffer Patricia Kaniho asked for basic information regarding severance, health benefits, accrued vacation and other benefits, conditions on the offer of employment from HA Management, the management company formed to operate the Advertiser during a transition period following closing of the sale to Oahu Publications.

Time is running out and we have been asked to make decisions that will affect our future and the lives of our families. We have been seeking answers to questions that no one seems to have the answers to. Our managers as well as our HR department has been kept in the dark just as much as we have so I guess you could say we are all in the same boat.

I am asking for your help. Would you please try to get answers for us that will help with our decision making? It seems that Gannett has thrown us out with the dirty laundry. We can’t expect anyone from Gannett to understand us, they have not lived with us, they have not shared our food, and they have not seen our smiles or heard our laughter. They do not understand our ways as Kama’aina. BUT, YOU HAVE. You have shared our food; and we have gracefully and willingly shared our smiles and laughter with you.

You will be leaving Hawai’i soon and WE will still be here, WE will still be sharing our food, our smiles and our laughter because that’s how we are. We are The Honolulu Advertiser. We are Maka’ai nana.

Click here to read the full list of questions Kaniho sent to Webber and Gannet. They reflect the dismal lack of basic information being made available to Advertiser employees. It isn’t clear whether there’s any more information available down the street at the Star-Bulletin.