What have journalists and building service workers at the newspaper been doing to save The Indianapolis Star?
Two years ago, during the darkest days of the financial crisis, The Star’s management came to its journalists and employees and said major sacrifices were needed to keep the newspaper healthy and to avoid layoffs.
So what did we do?
We, the members of the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, voted twice to accept unpaid furloughs. Then we voted to accept a 10 percent pay cut. That’s right. We voted to cut our own pay.
So what happened to that money?
Most of it wound up in the pockets of six top executives at Gannett, The Star’s corporate parent. Those executives ordered the cost cutting at The Star and other Gannett companies that amounted to $33 million. But they wound up keeping most of it for themselves, with pay packages for the Super Six amounting to $28 million.
We want The Star to be healthy. And we sacrificed when we were told such sacrifices were needed. But clearly we were fooled. The Star is healthy and profitable. So is Gannett.
Isn’t it time to reinvest some of those profits into the local newspaper?
