Tag Archives: Oahu Publications

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.

List of local directors dropped from “Views & Voices”

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Here’s an interesting comment from a reader:

An interesting comment by “Abcde” in your blog not long ago referred to David Black’s local investors.

” …According to previous news reports, Black’s local investors include Jeffrey and Lynn Watanabe, Duane Kurisu, Larry and Claire Johnson, Island Holdings Inc., Dan Case and C.S. Wo & Sons Ltd., all very familiar names, very local, and in most cases (no pun intended) all very Democrat.

Is it fair to apply any amount of public or private pressure to these local investors? Can they continue in good faith to donate to Democratic causes and look the other way while severance packages are being held up and hourly wage employees are laid-off with barely a goodbye and thank you for all their hard work? It would be nice to hear from these local investors if they truly believe their newspaper is being a good community stakeholder. Or is it just a pure business investment void of any social conscious? … (sic)”

After examining newest print edition and web version of SA, I see no mention of local investors and their names.

Does this mean that Black and Co. no longer have local investors as previously published, or does this mean that the new S-A has decided that for whatever reason, no mention of local investors is going to be standard business/publishing policy?

Before the Bulletin/Advertiser merger, local investors of Black Co. were prominently published on the Editorial section of the Star-Bulletin in small and fine print if I’m not mistaken.

Now there is no mention of Black’s local investors in print or online. Is this a newsworthy item?

I just pulled two newspapers out of our recycling stack, a Star-Bulletin and a Star-Advertiser.

Both papers have a “Views & Voices” spread with editorials and letters. On the left hand side, the old Star-Bulletin had a list of its publisher/editors followed by a list of the board of directors, which included the local investors. The Star-Advertiser inherited the same layout, but there’s just blank space where the directors’ list used to be.

To the reader, it looked like those were directors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Not so. “Honolulu Star-Bulletin” and “Honolulu Star-Advertiser” are just trade names registered by Oahu Publications, and they were Oahu Publications’ directors.

Does the removal of the directors signify anything? State business registration records show they continue to serve as directors, at least at their last official filing. It’s hard to say what else this might mean, if anything.

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.