Advance Publications ending job pledge

Sometimes, I hate being right, Last night and early this morning, I noticed the searches for Advance Publications and jobs pledge were way up plus, the traffic from cities where Newhouse newspapers originate was up ... way up. So this Editor & Publisher article on Advance ending job pledge not surprising.

I think Advance signaled its intentions long ago when higher ups clarified the pledge was for full-time staff only. When The Flint Journal bought a bunch of weekly newspapers, employees learned the pledge was for those working for the daily only. Of course, that daily only guarantee was one of the drawbacks of the three Michigan newspapers - Flint Journal, Bay City Times and Saginaw News - publishing three times a week starting June 1.

The pledge never guaranteed you kept your job. I'm looking for the link* to an article about newsroom employees in New Jersey booted to the mailroom. I remember hearing the Flint publisher telling some employees we could be pushing brooms, not punching keyboards, if enough employees did not accept company buyouts. I remember the new post carved out for me.

But, then I stopped believing in the corporate gods when I met the man who learned he was replaced when he walked into his empty office at a major car company - 1978. That belief was reinforced when I saw the in writing, "guaranteed lifetime medical benefits" no matter what erased for my stepdad with a company ownership change in name only. The bosses, paychecks, rules and more stayed the same for employees as the expensive incentives for early retirees were wiped out. That was 1987. Too many tales like that, aren't there.

The real job pledge is the one you make to yourself - keep learning, keep growing and keep saving.

(*It's a link to a blog post, the original story seems to have "left" the Internet.)