Between 120 and 150 IT workers will be fired from the McClatchy newspaper syndicate (Scramento Bee, Miami Herald, etc), after they have trained IT contractors from India's Wipro to do their jobs.
Some of the affected workers have filed for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which expands unemployment benefits to workers whose employers have offshored their jobs.
The move was announced in a remarkably (even by corporate America's standards) tone-deaf, jargon-laden, corpspeak letter circulated in the company, which referred, in its seventh paragraph, to firing the longterm employees as "a realignment of resources requiring a reduction in McClatchy technology staff," noting "this action is necessary for us to realize the benefits outlined above and help the company achieve its long-term goals."
The letter was signed by McClatchy CEO Patrick Talamantes, who earns $1.4m/year in total compensation for his work at McClatchy.
To date, the workers affected have not been able to find any McClatchy papers that have reported on the layoffs.
The letter received by McClatchy IT employees from CEO Talamantes begins by telling them the company is "pleased to unveil our new IT Transformational Program, a program designed to provide improved service to all technology users, accelerated development and delivery of technology solutions and products, variable demand-based technology resources and access to modern and cutting-edge skills and platforms."…"As we embark on the implementation phase, there will be a realignment of resources requiring a reduction in McClatchy technology staff. While regrettable, this action is necessary for us to realize the benefits outlined above and help the company achieve its long-term goals. Employees impacted by this realignment will be contacted…," wrote Talamantes.
Newspaper chain sending IT jobs overseas
[Patrick Thibodeau/Computerworld]
(via /.)
