Hearst: Did I neglect to mention outsourcing your job?

In his latest Friday evening e-mail, Publisher George Hearst “applauds” the bargaining committee’s decision to take the Company’s proposal to the membership for a vote.

Hold your applause, sir. We’re recommending the membership soundly defeat it.

In his latest missive, the publisher fails to mention that his proposal would enable the Company to lay people off and outsource their jobs. Funny how that slipped his mind. 

He doesn’t mention that the Company has eliminated every driver’s job because it had that power (though it could not lay them off, most took buyouts.) He doesn’t tell you that in Brockton, Mass., the newspaper gained the ability to outsource work and eliminated every district manager’s job.

He also doesn’t tell you that the Guild proposed language that would bar the Company from creating ‘shadow’ companies. (That would meant they could not open an office down the road, or in the building even, and say it is a “separate” company called, say, the Design Shop, where all editorial and advertising art jobs would go.)

The Company refused to even discuss it.

George Hearst’s e-mails are interesting not for what they say, but for what they deliberately exclude.