Gannett Newspapers to Lift Wage Freeze

We can already count one bright spot among today’s media job-related news items: USA Today publisher Gannett will on April 1 be ending a 12-month wage freeze at its newspaper business, division president Bob Dickey has told the Gannettoid blog.

“Thanks to the outstanding efforts across our division, we have been able to continue restructuring our costs, improve our revenue trends and are tracking as we hoped for the first quarter,” Dickey wrote in a memo published by Gannettoid. He also wrote that employees would be eligible for raises based on performance reviews.

The original wage freeze, imposed on April 1, 2009, was scheduled to lift on April 1, 2010, but many had speculated the freeze would be extended, Gannettoid said. The concerns stemmed in part from a staggered end to a wage freeze imposed by fellow newspaper giant McClatchy in the fall of 2009.

McLean, Va.-based Gannett publishes 84 U.S. daily newspapers, including New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press and Westchester County, N.Y.’s Journal News. It also runs 23 U.S. television stations.

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