Thursday, November 13, 2008

Uncertain Future...

So my Boss at about 9:00 am yesterday said "Meeting at 9:45" I'm thinking that cant be good, I asked her what it was about & she said consolidation, I thought OH FUCK! So we go to this meeting and all the Big wigs are there, all the managers & the publisher...she runs the whole damn show here, so I knew it was dramatic. She goes tot he podium and looks like shes gonna cry, again not good, because she is a VERY strong woman. She starts saying how we are struggling, economy, blah blah blah, I mean we all know this, so no new info here. Well then she dropped the bomb. Four full depts Prepress (where I used to work) Art Dept (where I want to work) Pagination, & support. Plus some of editorial, are all moving to Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. So what are peoples options? They can APPLY for their old jobs (Read: may not get them at GR or Kzoo) if they don't want to relocate OR don't get the job they can take a buyout if they are Full Time for 5 yrs or more (not sure what the buyout is yet)Where I work has a policy that you wont be laid off so what will happen if you don't get your job or am not eligible for the buyout is that you can get a position (not what you did before) here or one of the other locations (there are 8 in the state) They will have you do whatever they want. So basically, the poor people who have houses and kids & shit, obviously cant peace out & go to GR or KZoo, so they have to stay here. Is a messed up situation, and it REALLY makes me worry about the future of my job here. Obviously newspapers are a dying industry, I think that when the baby boomers are gone thee isn't gonna be newspapers anymore. The Internet has taken over. That's the reality of it. The bitch of it is those depts have ALL MY WORK FRIENDS in it. It kills me, cause they are in this tough situation, and I'm here w/ minor worries comparatively. I hope all this works out.

3 comments:

Becky said...

Sucks! We went through a huge round of layoffs here in our office back in June, and now there are financial analysts saying that we are going to have to file bankrupcy which has me pretty nervous too. It's not just that I don't want to lose my job, which I don't, but also that I don't want to see my company disappear because I friggin' like shopping there.

*sigh* The world is a grim place right now huh?

Aimee said...

I hate downsizing. I was downsized, or bought out, or whatever you want to call it. And it sucks!

Amy W. said...

Yeah, ask my boyfriend exactly why we live in Connecticut...similar situation - he had to reapply for his job at another site when they closed Ann Arbor.