By Ralph Cipriano for BigTrial.net
At Philadelphia Media Network, they’re staging an Upstairs Downstairs saga with no end in sight.
In the newsroom of the Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com, members of the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia have posted signs commemorating the grim fact that they’ve gone more than 3,500 days without a raise. And now management wants 30 union members to take a buyout next month, or else more layoffs may be on the way.
But for the independent contractors and officers of the fat nonprofit that owns PMN, the cash bequeathed by the late philanthropist, Gerry Lenfest, never seems to run out.
Even when management’s grand plans for reviving the hometown papers don’t pan out, nobody who lives upstairs has to worry about taking the hit.
Diane Mastrull is an Inquirer business reporter and weekend editor who’s president of the NewsGuild. When asked about how her members were reacting to the latest round of buyouts, she wrote in an email, “The reaction has been utter disgust — in the newsroom, finance, circulation and advertising.
“My members in each department have endured reorganizations time and time again and have embraced change like champs,” Mastrull wrote. “They are appalled that when leadership mandates fail, it is they who are punished, not the ‘Publisher of the Year’ or other managers who are architects of those changes.”
Mastrull was referring to Publisher Terry Egger, who last year was named Editor & Publisher’s Publisher of the year. Egger did not respond to a request for comment. In February, the NewsGuild, which represents more than 300 employees, including reporters, editors, photographers, and sales reps, declared that it had no confidence in Egger’s leadership.
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And things are getting worse according to the union president.
“Over and over I have heard a fear I’ve never heard before — that we really have no viable plan,” Mastrull wrote. “That’s a scary environment in which to marry, buy a house, have children, and plan for retirement.”
The No. 1 guy on the newsroom seniority list has his own doubts about what management is up to.
“It’s fair to say there’s a sense of betrayal,” wrote Inky columnist Stu Bykofsky in an email.
“We haven’t had a raise in more than a decade, and dozens of new people have been hired over the past year — young quality people — and now the company wants to shed dozens,” said Bykofsky, who has no plans to take the buyout.
“People are free to draw their own conclusions.”
But for the officers and contractors employed by The Philadelphia Foundation, the nonprofit that owns Philadelphia Media Network, it’s a different story. According to a 990 tax return filed in 2017 with the IRS on behalf of The Philadelphia Foundation’s $60 million Special Assets Fund, its officers and independent contractors are thriving
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