Channel 10 Employees Face Furloughs
Friday, June 24, 2011
Media General based in Richmond Virginia, who owns Channel 10, and other TV stations and newspapers around the country, has sent a directive out to employees.
People who work at the number one rated station in town will have to deal with 15-furlough days which means no pay.
In a letter to employees, Media General management said it had no choice but to impose the furlough days because of tough economic conditions that continue to affect the financial operations of Media General. Beginning July 1st, all of the nearly 100-employees will be forced to take days off without pay. It is not immediately clear how the days may be staggered. But no matter how you look at it - this move means workers will be forced to give up 3-weeks worth of pay.
Alternative would have been worse
Media General told the folks at Channel 10 that the only viable alternative would be to lay people off which obviously would be much worse than the furlough days. That said this news will hard to swallow for the employees because out of the TV stations and newspapers that Media General owns, Channel 10 performs well and is unfortunately lumped in with the stations and newspapers that perform poorly. Word from inside the station is that in particular, the Tampa market---especially the newspaper Media General owns is doing badly.
This will no doubt cause problems from a scheduling point of view and could have a negative impact on how the station covers news. Less people working means less resources---it's just that simple. Plus staff will be reduced for summer vacations as well.
If you look at what 15-days does to someone - the math is not good. For example, let's say a photographer or editor or associate producer is making $40,000 a year - the 15 days loss of pay is substantial. It means a loss of $over $2,300 of gross pay. Not an insignificant amount.
Not The First Time
This is not the first time employees have been dealt this blow. In 2009, employees were forced to take 10-days without pay to help cut costs.
What is not clear if the union at Channel 10 will support this move. Providence is one but only a few stations owned by Media General that is unionized, The news about furloughs comes just days after long time General Manager announced she would be retiring from the station at the end of June.
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