Pacificapocalypse

Yay! New Walt Disney Family Museum just opened in the Presidio!

Boo! They won’t let you take pictures there.

WTF? I thought we were over this nonsense; when are museums going to learn that a ‘no photography’ policy is absurd, almost impossible to enforce and absolutely pointless? What are they protecting? I see art students all the time at the De Young or the SFMOMA sketching or painting from the art there. Why is a photograph any different?
Thomas Hawk has some great takes on this and other such ridiculous photography polices.

We didn’t get it.

Picture unrelated.

Jury Duty
I’ve never had Jury Duty before; could be interesting, and seriously, the odds of me being selected for a jury for a criminal case, are pretty darn slim (if you know my history, you *know* what I’m talking about). And it’s a long shot crap shoot anyway, right? I get the notice that says ‘possible’ Jury Duty on Tuesday, August 25th. Says to check online Monday night to see if you have to actually show up. That’s the first cut.
Tuesday morning; crap I have to go.

So they stuff 80 or so of us good citizens into the basement of the Redwood City Superior Courthouse… fill out some paperwork… and wait. Nice lady says there may not even be a need for a jury today. That’s the second cut. 10:15 and she says yes, there is a case, it’s a civil case (civil case? boo!) and she will call 60 randomly selected names. There’s the 3rd cut. I still figure my odds are pretty good of not having to serve, but it’s all still interesting to observe from a distance sort of thing. Dammit, she called my name.
That’s the 4th cut.
59 of us and my self shuffle off to the 7th floor, Courtroom 7B. Take a seat and see what happens. Nice cross section of humanity here, everyone is well represented.
I’m still optimistic.
Read the rest of this entry »

Oh hell, when will this crap end? In my in-box this morning:

The Guild was given a “heads-up” today that more layoffs are in store for The Chronicle. There were no details as to numbers or departments, but additional information was expected within a day or two. Arrangements are being made for Guild leadership to meet with management representatives. If we hear anything, we will let you know. As always, please check our Web site, www.mediaworkers.org, for updates.

THERE’S NOBODY LEFT!

Well fuck a doodle doo. They’re actually laying people off in the business and advertising section of the once mighty San Francisco Chronicle, right this moment. They’re literally tapping people on the shoulder, telling them and then escorting them from the building.  Is this the way you let people go? So friggin’ archaic. They might as well have a Bugs Bunny cartoon executioner bare-chested in the full face mask with a head lopping axe at the ready. Holy crap. Hey I just had a thought; if they can’t tap you on the shoulder, can they still let you go? I mean if you just dodge them all day, are you cool? Que the Scooby-Doo chase scenes and the Benny Hill music.
Guess who knew first? Not me thank god; the couple that run the little in-house cafe knew it – they were here at 0 dark 30 when the extra security guards showed up.
Extra security?
Well… yeah I suppose that’s just CYA.
More later.

photo credit: ooOJasonOoo

Ok kids; here’s the final score.
The Guild has voted and ratified an agreement on contract changes, to take effect immediately. So what does that mean? First off, Hearst Corp. says 150 people will be let go, most likely starting April 1st. That’s when they file their WARN Act notice. We were informed today that most of the cuts will come from Editorial and Production, but we will be hit also. Management has been instructed to start filling out evaluation forms for all employees starting immediately.

So there you go. We get a little breather until the axe comes down.
Jeez it’s been like living in Warsaw in ‘38; you know it’s coming and you know it’ll be bad. But you really don’t know how bad… maybe they can get Adrian Brody to play me in the movie. I’d be okay with that.

I hate this shit.
Pins and friggin’ needles.
No news is good news? Not in this particular case. We’ve received a couple of updates from the Guild and it’s not looking good. But then again, no matter what happens, the situation is grim. If Hearst Corp. get their demands, the workforce is cut dramatically as well as benefits for the remaining employees, which equals a suck fest.
If the Guild and Hearst can’t reach an agreement, then Hearst puts the paper up for sale and if they don’t get a buyer, they close it all down. 144 years of publication history, just swept away. Which equals an even harder suck fest.
Update from this morning:

Chronicle Unit negotiators met Friday with management representatives
to raise certain issues concerning the company’s latest cost-cutting
proposals. It appeared we made some headway in terms of narrowing our
differences, but the meeting adjourned without an overall tentative
agreement.

The parties plan to resume the discussions on Monday.

Hearst Corp., owner of the Chronicle, announced it would have to sell
or close the 144-year-old newspaper if the Guild and other unions
refused to accept concessions.  At least 150 jobs are expected to be
eliminated from the Guild’s jurisdiction, including news,
advertising, circulation and other departments. Buyouts may reduce
the number of involuntary layoffs.

No deadlines have been set. Management has made it clear that
agreement needs to be reached soon.

I can’t even say ‘hopefully I’ll have more news later today’ ’cause any news is going to be bad at this point.
The consensus in my department, and probably building wide, is that it’s definitely time to have a Plan B ready to go. Because, boys and girls, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ anymore, only ‘when’.

Well it’s been a week since they made the announcement regarding the start of negotiations between the management of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Media Workers Guild (yeah boy, I’m a ‘Guild Member’ – sounds so archaic, I feel like I should be setting type Gutenberg Style like some Dickensian character.. “Please Sir! Might I have a steady paycheck and health coverage?”) We’ve got the list of demands (Okay they call it a ‘Summary of Hearst Proposal to Guild, but “list of demands” sounds way cooler and evil.) from Management, of what concessions they want from the Guild, and it ain’t pretty.

<snip>
…Exclude from Guild protection all recently hired outside advertising, online advertising, ChronDirect salespersons and sales reps for the Gate.
Grievances – Eliminate the right to take new grievances to arbitration without company agreement in each case.
Layoffs – Expand employer’s right to lay off anyone out of seniority. Higher severance for out-of seniority layoffs.
Pensions – Discontinue any further contributions to the pension plan.
<endsnip>

Full text pdf here.

There’s (obviously) a great deal of apprehension in the air, and rumors are everywhere. Some people say this isn’t so much about revenue as it is Hearst Management wanting to break the back of the Guild. And the timing doesn’t make sense to me and others; Hearst has sunk a ton o’ cash into a new 15 year agreement with a new state-of-the-art printing facility in Fremont that is set to make it’s debut in June 2009, so what happens to that?
No one really has a clue, but I do know that many people are expecting the worse and making plans now.

Well here it is:

Mark Adkins, President, made the announcement at 2:15 – as of 2:30 this afternoon, San Francisco Chronicle management is in negotiations with the union to start making emergency cuts in expenses to try an stem a $50m operating loss.  Partial from the memo by Frank Vega, Chairman and Publisher:

First and foremost of these cost savings will be a significant reduction in force across all areas of our operation affecting both represented and non-represented employees. We will shortly begin discussions with union leadership on proposals. Our current situation dictates that we accomplish these cost savings quickly. Business as usual is no longer an option.

If we are unable to accomplish these reductions in the immediate future, Hearst Corporation, which owns The Chronicle, has informed us that it will offer the newspaper for sale or close it altogether. We know these are painful times for everyone and we face difficult choices. We share in the sincere hope that we will reach agreement with all parties involved on the concessions needed to continue to operate and provide the Bay Area with a quality newspaper.

And here we are. Dammit I think I might be losing my job.

Wednesday, December 10 – Follow-up:

DocPop has a piece on this up as well as a more detailed post over at Laughing Squid.

From You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice:

Emily the Strange is a rip off of a 1978 book character

The page on the left is from a 1978 book called Nate the Great Goes Undercover, by Marc Simont.
The poster of Emily the Strange on the right is from 1991.

WOAH. BACK UP. SERIOUSLY? Yes. The top image is a page from Nate the Great Goes Undercover, complete with text. This book was published in 1978. The bottom image is one of the first images of Emily the Strange ever made publicly available–it was sold, WITH THAT TEXT INCLUDED, as a bumper sticker.

What’s the saying? Oh yeah: Talent borrows, Genius Steals.