USA Today Announces Furlough Program; Continued Moratorium on Pay Raises

USA TODAY Publisher David Hunke today announced that all employees must take a one-week furlough between Feb. 28 and July 3. As Jim Hopkins at Gannett Blog notes, this comes after the newspaper reported fourth-quarter paid advertising pages fell 10.5 percent, to 705 from 788, in the year-ago quarter.

Also in the memo is a 90-day extension in the pay raise moratorium that has already lasted a year.

To: USA TODAY Colleagues
Fr: Dave Hunke
Dt: February 11, 2010

As you'll recall, USA TODAY took a number of significant cost containment steps approximately one year ago in reaction to the rapidly deteriorating national economy. Among the decisions, we specifically instituted furloughs and a wage freeze. Recently, some business conditions have improved slightly. That’s a good sign. However, national advertising revenues in general were still down from the previous year as were paid advertising pages at USA TODAY. Business travel and hotel occupancy, and consequently, circulation sales continued to be lower in Q4 -- all the while the nation's economic recovery still appears inconsistent and unsure.

As a result, USA TODAY will implement the following steps:

All employees will be furloughed for one full week (Sunday through Saturday) during the time period of Sunday, February 28 through Saturday, July 3, 2010. To be clear, a furlough means no one will be permitted to work while on furlough and no one will be exempt, except for business necessity. That means when you are on furlough, there is no work, no office phone calls, no voice mail, no e-mail and no PDA checking. Exempt, salaried employees must take one full payroll week within the pay period. Non-exempt, hourly employees can take five days at any pre-approved time. All furloughs must be completed by July 3rd. If you are not sure which category you are in, check with your manager.

The one year moratorium on pay increases which went into effect on February 1, 2009, will be extended for a minimum of an additional 90 days. We will evaluate business conditions on a quarterly basis and institute a fair and equitable compensation increase plan as soon as conditions permit. This is a top priority and we will do our best to keep you well informed on our progress.

House Rejects Bailout Bill; Dow Drops 700 Points But Quickly Regains 200

From Kathy Kiely and Sue Kirchhoff of USA Today:

In a stunning rebuke to President Bush, congressional leaders and Wall Street, the House rejected a $700 billion financial bailout package Monday, with a coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats refusing to grant the government sweeping powers to buy up distressed loans.

The vote was 228-205 against the measure, with one member not voting. There was broad bipartisan opposition to the measure, with more than 90 Democrats and more than 130 Republicans voting against the bill. Republicans voted more than 2-1 to oppose the bill.

The vote came even though the measure was backed by Bush and House leaders in both parties. But opponents said the package granted the U.S. government too much power and and was beyond the cost the government should pay to address the worldwide financial crisis.

Wall Street reacted immediately to the news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 700 points at one point as the outcome became clear. After the vote, the Dow remained down by more than 550 points.

It's noteworthy that 90 Democrats voted against this bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had reportedly said earlier in the process that she needed the political cover of at least half of the House GOP. She said nothing about getting her own party on board.

Some GOP congressmen pointed to her speech this morning from the House floor where she blamed President Bush's fiscal policies were to blame for the trouble Wall Street is in. Other Republicans would not specifically blame Pelosi, but rather that the bill did not have enough protections for the taxpayers. Some have indicated an uneasiness with the way Treasury Secretary Harry Paulson handled the bailout proocess.

There is a chance the bill could be reconsidered today. "We could take this bill back to the floor with a motion to reconsider an hout from now," if modifications could be made to protect the taxpayers, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz) said.