Gannett is asking staff at The Herald News to take furloughs. Good thing there’s no major crisis in the Fall River community right now that reporters need to cover, right? It’ll be fine!

The CFO is getting $5 million on her way out the door today, & meanwhile the company is saying they can’t pay workers for 1 week out of the month. Why does someone who provided zero labor of benefit to our communities get a big fat bonus, while we on the front line get cuts?

People are stuck in their homes afraid to go out, & we STILL have reporters covering news — for the benefit of readers and the company. What do we get for our trouble? Take 3 weeks off with no pay, and no guarantee we won’t just get laid off anyway. Absurd!

Wasteful business practices got us into this mess, not just the coronavirus pandemic. And they are making no meaningful effort to change those practices at the corporate level so we’re not just in this same situation again later.

Fatcats getting $5 mil golden parachutes for pushing paperwork around a desk, while our hardworking staff is out there trying to cover Greater Fall River news with less and less in resources. WE are the company. This place only functions because of OUR labor.

It’s mind-boggling that Gannett executives have created a situation where draining our newsrooms of staff is the way forward during this crisis — or even during normal operations! This industry NEEDS a bailout, and you can help. More: https://newsguild.org/life-saving-news-needs-a-stimulus-post/