No one wins with furloughs

Many newspapers are forcing employees to take unpaid time off, selling it as an option to avoid layoffs. Newspapers aren’t the only companies using furloughs: Toyota, Arizona State University and the state of California are also using this tactic to try to save money. But that doesn’t make it right. Furloughs are ineffective, inefficient and indicate weak management.

The reason for furloughs is obvious: Save money. But if a company can afford to furlough one employee a week (although it’s usually more) for each week of the quarter, then it can afford to lay off an employee. During furloughs, the company still pays benefits and in some cases may have to pay overtime to get work done. Layoffs are painful, but, sadly, more cost effective. The money saved from the laid-off employee’s salary and benefits offset overtime costs, and still save money.

Furloughs force all employees to suffer the company’s financial woes. They are not an effective short-term solution. Often, the layoffs that would have taken place are only delayed — not eliminated. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune recently laid off employees a week after they were furloughed.

Furloughs are not a one-time-only deal, either. Hourly employees can be furloughed as often as managers want, said Loren Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor. What happens when money is tight in the next quarter?

Later this week, members of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — my employer — will vote whether to accept furloughs. Being part of a union makes our situation a little different from other newspapers: Parent company Lee Enterprises cannot dictate furloughs as it has at other papers. The members must vote on furloughs; the guild has not endorsed the plan either way. Lee can order layoffs, and it is quite likely that will happen (again) with either a yes or no vote. The vote is private, of course, but without a no-layoff guarantee, an extension of our soon-to-expire contract or any other concessions, and knowing that it is quite likely I will soon be a layoff victim, I can’t justify voting for furloughs.