I thought Mr. Zell would be a breath of fresh air and could turn Tribune around. That being said, his anti-union bias is disturbing to me, and to many of the other IBEW, IATSE, DGA, AFTRA, and Newspaper Guild members in his employ.
When Sam took over, huge signs appeared at WPIX saying "You Own This Place Now". But only the non-union Tribune employees were actually included in the new Employee Stock Ownership Plan(ESOP)that now owns the privately held Tribune Company. Left out were the 70% of his new employees represented by AFTRA,DGA,IATSE,IBEW,and the Newspaper Guild.
It should also have be a clue when we discovered that the ESOP is actually a tax dodge and the employee owners of Tribune now get the tax liability, but no seat on the Tribune board of directors.
Well, here come the layoffs at the newspapers. I'm guessing that consolidation, outsourcing, and layoffs at the TV stations (I work at WPIX) are next. Oh well,time to start practicing: "Would you like fries with that?"
The Ax Man Cometh.
I thought Mr. Zell would be a breath of fresh air and could turn Tribune around. That being said, his anti-union bias is disturbing to me, and to many of the other IBEW, IATSE, DGA, AFTRA, and Newspaper Guild members in his employ.
When Sam took over, huge signs appeared at WPIX saying "You Own This Place Now". But only the non-union Tribune employees were actually included in the new Employee Stock Ownership Plan(ESOP)that now owns the privately held Tribune Company. Left out were the 70% of his new employees represented by AFTRA,DGA,IATSE,IBEW,and the Newspaper Guild.
It should also have be a clue when we discovered that the ESOP is actually a tax dodge and the employee owners of Tribune now get the tax liability, but no seat on the Tribune board of directors.
Well, here come the layoffs at the newspapers. I'm guessing that consolidation, outsourcing, and layoffs at the TV stations (I work at WPIX) are next. Oh well,time to start practicing: "Would you like fries with that?"
Bob Daraio
http://broadcastunionnews.blogspot.com