McClatchy announces salary freeze

The McClatchy Co. announced on Thursday a one-year salary freeze starting Sept. 1. The across-thme-board freeze includes all 30 newspapers in the chain and the corporate office in Sacramento.

If employees are scheduled to receive a merit or salary review between Sept. 1 and Aug. 31, 2009, the review will occur one year later than scheduled.

Publishers of the newspapers sent out memos to all employees

The memo at one of the newspapers explained:

"This means that if you are scheduled to receive a merit or salary review between Sept. 1, 2008 and Aug. 31, 2009, your salary review will occur one year later than scheduled. For example, if your next salary review date is March 1, 2009, the salary review will be postponed until March 1, 2010. However, you will receive regularly scheduled performance reviews during this period."

Thursday.Sacramento Bee publisher Cheryl Dell in his memo to all employees said

“While we have taken many steps to reorganize and streamline operations to respond to changing business models and these economic challenges, we need to do more to control expenses.”

Ed Fletcher, chairman of the employee union, said employees are learning to do more with less, but are opposed to doing more for less.

“Sadly we’ve seen a steady stream of good employees making the often-difficult decision to leave the company over the last 12 months,” Fletcher said, in an e-mail. “Between layoffs, buyouts and attrition, the newsroom alone is down 29 people since Aug. 27, 2007.”

The salary freeze will only further that migration, he said.

“Losing pace with inflation will cause even the most die-hard journalist to question whether, for the sake of their future and family, it’s time to move on,” he said.

He said the guild is looking forward to meeting with management to offer ideas on how to trim costs without “destroying employee moral, driving more employees away, or causing a financial hardship for employees.

“One place to start is to eliminate management bonuses.”

Management at the Lexingcton (Ky) Herald-Leader earlier announcecd another voluntary separation package with no specific target number.

A memo there said:

“The Herald-Leader continues to manage through an economic downturn that is having an unprecedented negative effect on revenues and, therefore, our financial health. While we have taken many steps to reorganize and streamline operations to respond to changing business models and these economic challenges, we need to do more to control expenses.”

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