Monday, August 18, 2008

No ‘garden party’ here

For Long Beach MediaNews staffers in bargaining for a new contract since February 2007, the news today that Dean Singleton will sponsor a $1.5 million media party Saturday night at Elitch Gardens, a big Denver theme park, in advance of the Democratic National Convention, came as a collective blow to the stomach to his workers here. P-T reporter Joe Segura put it this way:

At the bargaining table, there have been frustrating periods, as MediaNews hammered away about its woes. There’s a downturn in revenues, we were told repeatedly. The Internet is bleeding the industry, according to the theme. And so on.

MediaNews managers look you in the eye, and repeat the same line, hitting their chests, while chiding us for not looking at the frigid facts of finances. We’ve been patient at the bargaining table, as we chipped away with attempts to get a clear picture of the company’s true fiscal status.

A large slice of that picture was posted Monday on LAObserved. It’s money that could have been invested in more reporters, in better wages, in updated equipment. It’s money from the profits we earned for the company.

And to be so reckless with the resources only adds to the profile of a callous company attitude that's indifferent about its responsibilities to the communities it “serves” and to its loyal workers

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

FIND A BUYER FOR THE PRESS-TELEGRAM!!!!!!GSU

Anonymous said...

!Crash the party!

Anonymous said...

can anyone tell us at the breezER if there's any merit to the story, or stories, of a deal to sell either our paper or the long beach press-telegram? i understand that dean singleton was in woodland hills talking to some money sources and to rich archbold and phil sanfield. details would be nice.

Anonymous said...

What story, or stories "of a deal to sell ..." ? Details plz.

Anonymous said...

this boggles the mind! Only a robber baron would be this callous! Raises for the PT staff? Hell no! Hire back laid off workers? Since others have already shouldered the burden, why bother? Upgrade equipment? Who needs that when bubble gum and scotch tape are so plentiful. All joking aside, what does this tell you about the human condition? This tells me that Dean and the boys just ain't human... Even rats treat their kind BETTER! It just keeps getting better and better, don't it?

Anonymous said...

it would be difficult to sell the breezette with the current "editor" prancing about, looking for MORE ways to gut the news operation. just a modest observation.

Anonymous said...

Hey I also heard that they had the meeting in Huntington Beach , OC.

I think he's ready to buy the OC Register.

Dean Singleton once said when he was denied after bidding to buy the OC REGISTER, that they we " naive Beach boys " and it would only be a matter of time.

Yikes!

Anonymous said...

I think its deciding who will fit in the new Breeze building and who won't.

Anonymous said...

is the union outsourcing its mobilization effort??? i have not seen any union life here, in a so-called breezER unionization push. did phil sanfield scare you guys off? or did the whiner become too much of a challenge? or have you abandoned us because of the ongoing rumors of a sale?