Gannett Employees Express Anger
When a memo was released to Gannett employees that the company will freeze the employee pension plan, the news was met with a mix of anger and uncertainty as it spread across the newsroom. While many staffers declined to comment, the few who spoke up were bracing for the worst.
"Everybody was, first of all, shocked, then disgruntled to find out the pension was frozen," said Terri Sanginiti, a 12-year reporter at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. "That was one of the perks of the job. It just came out of left field, at the end of the day."
"It is sad to see that the largest newspaper company in North America is treating its employees so shabbily," said Lou Mleczko, president of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, whose members include those at the Gannett-owned Detroit Free Press. "They can afford to maintain this [pension] plan, it is not an expensive plan. It is an abandonment of their own employees."
Gannett admits the move is not aimed at improving employee retirement options, but meeting economic demand. The company revealed that the move would save about $30 million in 2009.
"We have not sold it as a positive, we have sold it as reality," Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said a day after the announcement came out. "It allows us to save money and improve the 401(k), which is what employees have told us they want."
To read more about the pension freeze and for reactions from staffers,
click here.
