The “reorganization” of the newsroom is typical Post-Dispatch and, at the same time, a fitting metaphor for the Lee Way.
Forget, for a moment, the practical problems created in some departments — some copy editors, for example, will need to file for monthly mileage expenses to communicate with their designers. Forget, too, how the “reorganization” was first billed as a system in which the continuous news desk would be encircled by rings of designers, then copy editors, then reporters etc, all feeding back to the center and a modern, 21st-century, print/online production team. Now, all of the traditional fiefdoms have been preserved.
Instead, take the coat locker/file drawer/bookcase units. No please, take them. Away. That must be what management heard after they asked us, “What furniture would you like to keep?” And we told them, knowing full well that 1) they didn’t care to really know, and 2) they had already made up their minds. But like Charlie Brown, we placed our trust, however shaky, in Lucy one more time … and then the football was snatched away.
What reason did you hear for the removal of the lockers? Here are three: 1) They’re ugly. 2) There’s not enough room. 3) The bosses can’t see us hiding behind them (obviously, this our favorite). But the answer depended on who you asked. Oh, and who made the decision? That kept changing, too. It’s Chinatown, Jake. What reason were you given?
The truth is that it’s not about the coat lockers; sadly, it’s about us. We are the furniture.
And furniture doesn’t need to be consulted, listened to or respected. It just needs to be moved, or tossed out. Our brothers and sisters in advertising and circulation know this all too well. Now our Post-Dispatch security guards know it, too, and unfortunately they didn’t have the protection of a union contract.
They will be out on the street, treated like furniture tossed to the curb for bulk-item pickup day. They were told they could apply for jobs with Whelan Security — for half of what they make now. And oh, by the way, that 5 weeks vacation time they haven’t used? Well, here’s the thing: It’s not Lee policy to pay unused vacation time.
Furniture.
A colleague who took the buyout six months ago recently discovered that she has no dental coverage. When she called Delta, she was told she had “opted out” when she signed her early retirement papers in September.
“No, I didn’t,” she said.
“Yes, you did, we have a paper with your signature on it.”
“Well, I don’t remember signing it and, besides, I don’t have a copy of it,” she said. “Can you send me a copy?”
Delta said no, they can’t. So our colleague called HR in Davenport and was told the same thing; no copy. No COBRA dental coverage. No recourse except to get your own insurance because, anyway, six months have gone by and it’s too late.
“Is this the way you treat retirees?” our friend asked.
“Well,” the HR lady in Davenport answered, “you Post-Dispatch people are the only retirees we’ve ever had to deal with.” (Presumably because nobody in a nonunion Lee paper felt it was worth sticking around long enough to have a career and retire. But we digress.)
“You Post-Dispatch people.”
You furniture.