The Secret Taxpayer Bailout of the Des Moines Register
- Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 4:16
- National, Top Story
- 1,107 views
- 19 comments
This past Monday, the Gannett Company, the parent company of The Des Moines Register, announced that its employees would experience another round of week-long furloughs and hinted that additional furloughs could follow. Gannett says the moves are necessary to avoid additional layoffs.
Gannett also announced that all employees making over $90,000.00 will have to take a two-week furlough, and all salaries at the Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen will be frozen. Gannett isn’t alone; other newspaper companies, like Iowa-based Lee Newspapers, are dealing with declining revenues which has led to layoffs and furloughs for existing workers.
Furloughs are not just confined to the newspaper industry. Some state agencies have furloughed their employees. The Iowa Judicial Branch, which has already furloughed their employees two days this year, has planned additional furlough days for April 10th, April 24th, May 8th, May 22nd, June 5th, and June 19th.
It is interesting to see the different approach to the use of furloughs. The Judicial Branch is using periodic, individual days to limit the down time for the court system, which cause the court system to be shut down for one or two days per month. The newspaper industry is using week long furloughs and staggering their employees so that they are not shut down over a week-long period.
The two different approaches led The Iowa Republican to look around and see if there were other advantages to week-long furloughs over the more periodic approach. After a call to the Iowa Workforce Development office, we learned that companies like Gannett that require week-long furloughs make it possible for their workers to draw unemployment benefits.
The Workforce Development officer said all the employees needs to do is submit their unemployment claim with Iowa Workforce Development on the first day of their furlough and then call in to the Workforce Development weekly earnings hotline and report that they had no earning for the week. They will then receive one week of unemployment benefits.
Judicial Branch workers who will go without eight days of pay this spring are not as fortunate. Workers who are furloughed on periodic days cannot claim unemployment benefits since they still earn a wage during the week of their furlough.
The Gannett Company isn’t doing anything illegal, but when more and more Iowans are losing their jobs, it’s distasteful for their employees, who still have jobs, to drain funds from the unemployment system. The unemployment system is funded by Iowa businesses who pay taxes into the Iowa Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, and Workforce Development then makes payments to eligible jobless workers.
The key word is “jobless.” There is no doubt that these furloughs are difficult for the workers and the families of those who are required to take them, but they should be thankful they have a job. By using week-long furloughs, Gannett is using the unemployment system to essentially help cover the cost of paying their workforce.
Making matters worse, Gannett recently paid its five NEOs (named executive officers) nearly $2 million in cash bonuses. So while their employees are on furlough and likely drawing unemployment benefits, Gannett CEO Craig Dubow is enjoying an $875,000.00 bonus.
There has been ample discussion about the outrageous bonuses AIG paid its workers. Many editorial boards from various newspapers have criticized AIG for paying outlandish bonuses when the company is in the tank. Yet, the newspaper industry is guilty of the same sin, paying six figure bonuses when the company is forcing its employees to take an unpaid week of work. And, just like AIG, Gannett is cheating the system at the cost of the taxpayer.
About the Author
Craig Robinson has written 454 stories on this site.
Craig Robinson serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheIowaRepublican.com. Prior to founding Iowa's largest conservative news site, Robinson served as the Political Director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. In that capacity, Robinson planned and organized the largest political event in 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. Robinson also organized the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa, and was later dispatched to Nevada to help with the caucuses there. Robinson cut his teeth in Iowa politics during the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes and has been involved with most major campaigns in the state since then. His extensive political background and rolodex give him a unique perspective from which to monitor the political pulse of Iowa.
19 Comments on “The Secret Taxpayer Bailout of the Des Moines Register”
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Figures that Craig would delete my comment, since it made him look like a rube.
That’s amateur hour, Craig, but I’m not sure why I expected better from such a classless Web site.
btw, you know you’re full of, and I know you’re full of it, even if your mindless readers don’t know.
So let’s not forget that, okay.
What’s so secret about this? I know you hate the Register, but when you’re layed off you technically are out of work (a furlough is just a limited lay off). So I wouldn’t have a problem with anyone getting benefits during that time. That’s what they are there for.
I share your outrage about Gannett execs getting bonuses when their employees are suffering. It’s not right and it’s terrible PR.
But it sounds like you’re more angry about the evil Register reporters getting a helping hand than anything else. You have the right to feel however you want, but this seems a little out there for me. Reporters are just working stiffs that make very little money, and while you may not like them personally, I’ve found most to be quite nice and well intentioned.
So, basically, I’m not sure why you’re so angry at the situation. Maybe you can explain a little better.
This isn’t what enemployment is supposed to be for. This isn’t even really a lay off. It’s really a pay reduction, and other responsible businesses are getting stuck with the tab for Gannett’s irresponsiblity. Plus, this is just a loophole in the system. It’s not fair that some people get ten one day furloughs and no unemployment, while Gannett employees get two week-long furloughs and do get unemployment.
So all the sudden you conservatives care about fairness?
This is EXACTLY what unemployment is there for. To help those out of work, regardless of the length of time. You are just upset because it’s the LIBERAL MEDIA and nothing good can be allowed to happen to them.
Easily one of your more pathetic arguments.
These people are not unemployed.
What do you say to the Judicial Branch employees who are required to miss more days of work, but can’t collect unemployment benefits because they are only furloughed a day at a time. Gannett is using the unemployment trust fund to help balance their bottom line.
What happens if John Deere or Principal plays the same game? The unemployment system will fail and people who really need these benefits to survive will be left out in the cold.
Steve, I deleted your first comment because of the language you used.
Steve Right – Funny…you are the most prolific poster on this “classless website.” I think you’ve got a crush on Republicans.
Deep down, Peggy, you’re probably correct. Man crush and refined hatred are only a fine line apart.
Honestly, I think you’re jealous of the massive amount of daily hits this new REPUBLICAN blog is getting. It really puts the likes of Iowa Independent to shame. And I don’t even think Robinson is being bankrolled by a gay activist from Colorado – how cool is that?!
Peggy,
You’re funny and stuff.
Iowa Republican wrote: “The Judicial Branch is using periodic, individual days to limit the down time for the court system, which cause the court system to be shut down for one or two days per month. The newspaper industry is using week long furloughs and staggering their employees so that they are not shut down over a week-long period.”
Unfortunately, you fundamentally misunderstand how the Gannett furloughs are being implemented. They are week-long furloughs, yes, in that most employees have to take five days off without pay. But hourly employees – by far the majority – are allowed to split up their furlough days, and thus ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT, much like the judicial workers you describe. Only salaried/”exempt” workers are required to take their furloughs in one continuous five-day period, because that’s how they’re paid.
I work for a Gannett newspaper (not Des Moines), and in the most recent round of furloughs, about 90 percent of the hourly workers split up their days off, including myself. I believe the only hourly workers who took their furloughs in week-long stretches were forced to because they had previously-scheduled vacation weeks, and under Gannett rules, had to take the furlough days before they could use any vacation days.
To your broader political points: If you are not going to work and not getting paid, you are unemployed. That means you can use unemployment benefits. That’s what they’re there for. It’s not like the DMR is getting the unemployment cash – it’s the workers who are trying to stay afloat.
815 reader — if you have a week off work and know you are going back to a job you are not unemployed. you are taking MY unemployment tax I PAY as a job creator and giving it to people that HAVE jobs. That is not an unemployed person.
You’re either an idiot or a liar. The employees who have to take those week furloughs have paid into the unemployment INSURANCE system, so they are entitled to whatever benefits this INSURANCE system provides. They will still pay taxes on the unemployment INSURANCE payments they receive during this week. (It’s INSURANCE, get it?) This is not a drain on state taxpayers, and your attempt to demonize these folks, who have to take these measures through no fault of their own, is disgusting and symptomatic of why Americans tossed Republicans out on their asses in November.
On second thought, even if you are a liar, you’re still an idiot.
Hey Mr. Idiot…me thinks you are what we like to call a Class A Moron. Read below that is directly from Iowa Workfoce Development: Employers do not make any deductions from the worker’s paycheck to fund unemployment insurance
benefits.
Benefits are paid from a fund exclusively supported by a payroll tax levied on Iowa employers. The tax varies for employers and is primarily dependent on two factors: 1) how the employer’s experience compares to that of all other employers who are participating in the Iowa Unemployment Insurance Program; and 2) the overall fiscal condition of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
So Mr. Idiot…after reading that do you feel more like an idiot or a moron?
Funny… no response from the author about such misstatements as this…
“After a call to the Iowa Workforce Development office, we learned that companies like Gannett that require week-long furloughs make it possible for their workers to draw unemployment benefits.”
As I pointed out above, only salaried employees are required to take week-long furloughs in a single week – because that’s how they’re paid! Hourly employees such as reporters, copy editors, photographers, press workers, graphic artists, ad designers and mailroom workers are all hourly, generally speaking. None of those people are “required” by Gannett to take their furloughs in week-long blocks.
Craig, I think you are missing a fundemental point here about the effects of a furlough. If the Register (or Gannett) makes all of its employees take a weeklong furlough, there are ways to schedule the time off without adversely affecting the overall company or enterprise. It’d be like near the end of a fiscal year at most companies when everyone is trying to fit their use-it-or-lose-it vacation time in because they haven’t taken it yet, or were waiting until summer for time off. (It’s like that at my office every year)
If the courts were closed for a week or if employees (say a clerk of court in Buchanan or Wright counties) were required to be off a week, that could cause a lot of problems for the court system as a whole. I know a person who works in the Fayette County clerk’s office and each furlough day creates a mess for their scheduling. Many hearings for traffic tickets or small offenses have been pushed back a way, because judges are only in town a few days a week. Plus, there are three employees in that office, and they can barely keep up. Even if they staggered the furloughs, it’d cause havoc. There are a lot more logistical problems for having employees in the courts off for a week compared to those of a newspaper.