Tierney to Unions: “We Must Cut Costs by 10 Percent”
This morning’s meeting over at 400 North Broad was worse than anybody thought. Straight from a Newspaper Guild release:
Tierney: We Face A Dire Situation
The company held a meeting this morning with representatives of all the unions at which publisher Brian Tierney described a grim financial picture for Philadelphia Newspapers. Citing the struggling economy and PN problems meeting debt requirements, Tierney predicted “a dire situation” by summer or fall if the company cannot find ways to cut costs by 10 percent.
Company executives intend to meet one-on-one with each union to discuss ways in which savings might be achieved.
They did not say what would happen if savings targets are not met, but made references to outsourcing jobs overseas. Tierney said he is determined to not lose investors’ money.
The Guild’s representatives at the one-hour session were PN Unit Chair Diane Mastrull and Local Representative Bill Ross.
Sadly, Tierney was especially harsh about our advertising sales staff, saying its union affiliation hampers him from getting the results the company needs. He threatened job cuts if the Guild prevails in arbitrations over what it contends were unjust firings of five advertising reps. In essence, the company is asking the Guild to violate the law by refusing to represent its members. Quite simply, the Guild will not oblige.
We will, however, as we have been doing, work with the company to attempt to find ways the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com can thrive and be a leader in an industry that needs creativity—not finger-pointing—to guide it through these difficult times.
We urge all members with any ideas for building revenue or cutting expenses to communicate them to Guild officers or to voices@local-10.com. We will then prepare a comprehensive response to the company’s request for help.
Stay tuned to the Daily Examiner for updates. — Steve Volk
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
And not to mention the Inqy and the Daily News BLOW. You can read them online for FREE. Newspapers are dying. Deal with it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Tell numbnuts Wolf/Gang if the papers die there will be nothing to read online. Where do you think content comes from?
Deal with it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Yes, the newspapers should be allowed to fail. They’ve brought it on themselves. Most of what they print is nobody’s business anyway. All that digging around. Ridiculous.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
That’s ridiculous. NEWS North East West South, it’s always been about nobody’s business, its not a calendar of events.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hey Wolfgang, can’t wait to hear you or your kids or your kids’ kids whine some day about living in a dictatorship society, thanks to there being no newspapers and no media digging up the latest Watergate or holding government accountable with printed stories.
Deal with it.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:02 am
“If I had to choose between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I would choose newspapers without a government.”
Thomas Jefferson 1798
January 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Tierney is determined not to lose investors’ money but won’t reveal who the investors are. Why worry about them? You risk your money, you take your chances. That’s what the workers are being asked to do.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Here’s a way to save money — drop that annoying column, “Chick Wit.” I’m sure Lisa Scottoline isn’t writing for peanuts and her column reads like fingernails on a blackboard. She should be paying Tierney for having her name and face on the real estate every week — publicity for her books, which I hope are better than what she puts in the paper.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Circulation at the Inky is up and the DN is stable. Nearly all newspapers have profit ratios double those of most industries, typically 15% or better. Usually the problem is stock purchasers, who are unhappy that newspaper stocks go down instead of up, which is the fault of people who buy (or don’t buy) stocks. We need a free press. Cutting expenses by 10% will damage the newspapers and, based on what has happened at other papers, reduce profits and circulation by more than 10%. Tierney is another boss lured by the idea that reducing quality (which is what happens with cuts in papers that have been cut to the bone before) will improve profits. It does not work in the long run and for newspapers has not worked in the short run either.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Liberal Bias = Layoffs
February 8th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
The problem with pnllc is somebody i dont know who is mis managing mr tierny on how monies are being spent in the plant operation a strong word of advice is that if it works dont fix it,he has spent a incrediable amount of money for upgrades in this operation,half of which in my opinion where a waste of money,so b-4 you go blogging get some facts,understand that when your not totally aware of how your money is being spent on inhouse upgrades you could possibly be believing some things that are not true and that hurts the employees.and throws money out the window.