Posted on 11/02/2017 6:57:49 PM PDT by markomalley
A week ago, reporters and editors in the combined newsroom of DNAinfo and Gothamist, two of New York City’s leading digital purveyors of local news, celebrated victory in their vote to join a union.
On Thursday, they lost their jobs, as Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade who owned the sites, shut them down.
At 5 p.m., a post by Mr. Ricketts went up on the sites announcing the decision. He praised them for reporting “tens of thousands of stories that have informed, impacted and inspired millions of people.” But he added, “DNAinfo is, at the end of the day, a business, and businesses need to be economically successful if they are to endure.”
All other articles promptly vanished from the sites; an official at DNAinfo said they would be archived online.
Mr. Ricketts wrote that he founded DNAinfo in 2009 “because I believe people care deeply about the things that happen where they live and work,” and he thought he could build “a large and loyal audience that advertisers would want to reach.” DNAinfo and Gothamist, which Mr. Ricketts bought in the spring, attracted more than 9 million readers a month, in New York and other cities where they operate satellite sites, DNAinfo said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They won the battle but lost the war.
We’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’re giving you tomorrow (Friday) off. The bad news is that it’s unpaid and permanent.
Those former workers now know the definition of a “pyrrhic victory.”
I hope they prepaid their union dues.
It’s OK, as long as he doesn’t try to set up a similar business there. Then he will be sued by the union, but I’m sure he knows that.
On the other hand, an obvious thing to do is have the union fund similar businesses. They can still get dues, and maybe make money if they cut costs.
Naaahhh....
Oh, and one more thing: those union organizers? They’ve got jobs. It’s only the suckers that don’t.
Uh, they didn’t teach us about grown ups and economics in our safe spaces in college.
Is it really true you have to make a profit to stay in business? That’s not fair.
Our salaries should be based on our needs, not our actual worth to the employer.
Gotta call mom and dad, see if I can have my old room back.
You can’t have the inmates running the prison.
Actually, they are being paid, with benefits, through February 2, which actually seems very generous.
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