Gannett tells US staff to take second week of unpaid leave

Gannett, Newsquest’s parent group, is forcing its employees in the US to take a second week’s unpaid leave.

Staff in the US have been already been told to take one week’s ‘furlough’before the end of March, and have now been asked to take another before the end of June.

Chief executive Craig Dubow said in a memo: ‘Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.”

The first round of furloughs saved the company $20m [£13.6m], according to the memo.

Earlier this month, it was revealed Dubow received an $875,000 bonus [£595,000], while four other executives received $300,000 [£204,000], $270,000 [£184,000], $245,000 [£167,000], and $260,000 [£177,000].

Last month, Press Gazette revealed Newsquest was making managers take a week’s unpaid leave, and asking rank-and-file to do the same.

Topics in this article : Journalism