The Sacramento Bee’s publisher and president, Cheryl Dell, announced on Monday what many already knew was coming: furloughs.
Specifically, a majority of full-time Hive staffers will need to take a one-week, unpaid furlough by Thanksgiving week, or November 24.
“In the first quarter of this year, [The McClatchy Co.] said total revenue fell 4 percent from one year earlier,” reported Bee writer Dale Kasler.
Losing a week’s pay stinks, for sure. But fear not, Bee employees: McClatchy Co. has a plan for how to recoup that lost dough.
Sources at the Bee told SN&R that in a packet distributed to all staff, employees were given the option of taking out a credit-union loan as a way to make up for the lost income. This loan would have to be repaid in 90 days.
At an 18-percent interest rate!
SN&R was unable to confirm that the Bee is considering a name change to “The Sacramento Shark.”