Bucky abroad, Bucky hoping to still have a job

Sorry I've been long absent. I was on forced leave by my job — cost cutting measures; we were all required to take a week of unpaid "furlough" — and so I spent it on the couch of my friend who lives in England. This was surprisingly cheaper than you might think. The ticket wasn't much more than what I pay to visit my parents down south and I spent less than I would have if I were at home too.

So upon my return to work, I was told we were being forced to take a second week of furlough (in the second quarter) and they needed to know what week I was taking right away. (Those who make $90,000 and over must take two weeks. I, naturally, make nothing close to that.) I already had a week off for vacation so I just chose that week. We also found out that starting April 1 there will be no more raises, at least through March 31, 2010. My review and thus raise? In April.

Then yesterday we found out that we were being "hubbed" like the company has done to the New Jersey papers and our copy desk and graphics department would essentially be fired and the Journal News in Westchester County would pick up production. There will be a few "new" job openings down there that our people were "welcome" to apply for. Obviously there will be fewer jobs than we have people. That's all they know of for now, but if we go the way of Jersey, then apparently ALL the editing jobs will move to Westchester (including mine) and they'll eliminate the positions of executive editor and publisher at our paper. So essentially they're asking our publisher and editor to help bring to fruition a project that will eliminate their jobs.

For more on this delightful trend, visit the Gannett Blog. (Not affiliated with the company, much to its chagrin.)