Saturday, August 2, 2008

Modesto Bee to eliminate 33 full-time and 127 part-time positions

The Modesto Bee announced Friday it will eliminate 33 full-time and 127 part-time positions when the newspaper moves its printing operations to Sacramento. Modesto Bee publisher Margaret Randazzo said the employees will be given severance packages and placement assistance. The Modesto Bee will be printed in Sacramento beginning September 29.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am one of the FT guys being let go. It really is nice that the Mo Bee is giving us a severance pkg. (BIG WHOOP!) Does Gary Pruitt even have a clue as to what he is doing to the families being affected? Does he know the nut and bolts of the business? Does he even care? He just sits back listening to Lenny Kravitz and collecting his $4.6 billion pay check. His puppets...Hank VanDerveen, Margaret Randazzo and who knows who else just go along with his wishes. VanDerveen came off the docks of the Modesto Bee...rumor has it he never went to college, yet he is the publisher of the Merced Sun Star. (HEY Hank, did you forget where you came from?) There are allegations he was directly involved in the layoffs at the Modesto Bee. Pruitt is trying to buy up the valley papers, but the credit rating is allegedly so bad he couldn't get a loan to buy the Stockton Record (another boat anchor, but doing better than us!). Rumor also has it VanDerveen is in position to be the next publisher of the Modesto Bee...or what's left of it.
McClatchy has spent over $500,000 to move the color units of the Beaufort Gazette to Merced to up grade their press...VanDerveen calls it a commitment to the community...what about Modesto? Beaufort gets a new press, Merced gets an up grade and the readers of the Modesto Bee are going to get a "dirty paper". No more flexo...no more environmentally friendly water based ink that does NOT rub off. Instead the "new" Bee will look dirty, rub off and have that lovely "off set smell". Some of the Mod. Bee advertisers (Mr. O'Brien you know who you are) have come back to the Bee in recent years because of the quality of the printing. The Flexo press and the crew that runs it has won numerous awards both nationally and internationally for it's printing quality. As far as delivery...Sacramento Bee trucks will bring it down to several distribution points and then carriers will deliver it from there...365 days a year in the rain, FOG etc. Bet it is old news by the time it gets to your door. How about the sports scores? will they be late or just log on to modbee.com and get them. Well for the ones still subscribing to the Modesto Bee...as Gary Pruitt signed off in a recent video "state of the Bee" he played for us..."You Don't Always Get What You Want..." Thanks a heap Gary...I hope the karma runs over your dogma!