BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
Newspapers’ India Outsourcing
You’re being laid off. But before you pack up and leave, could you please train your IT replacement?
That’s the way it is at two major newspaper chains.
More than 300 IT jobs from two major newspaper chains are being transferred to India.
In a published report last week in Computer World, Tribune Publishing, a major newspaper chain, announced earlier this year that as many as 200 of its IT employees will be laid off as it transfers these jobs to India.
Another newspaper chain, McClatchy newspapers announced to its staff in March that they would be outsourcing more than 100 IT jobs to India.
McClatchy hired Wipro, an IT service provider based in India.
The McClatchy chain owns about 30 newspapers, including The Sacramento Bee, where McClatchy is based; The Fresno Bee, The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., The State in Columbia, S.C. and the Miami Herald.
This month, Computer World reported another similar story: The Tribune, which owns the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant and many other media properties, told its IT employees in early April that it’s moving work to Wipro, an India-based Tata Consultancy Service.
Tribune Publishing Co., a major newspaper chain, is laying off as many as 200 IT employees as it shifts work overseas, according to Computer World.
McClatchy’s IT Spin
McClatchy’s CEO Patrick Talamantes tried to put corporate lipstick on the IT outsourcing, detailing all the improvements the contract with Wipro would bring to the newspaper chain.
Talamantes wrote in letter to employees that McClatchy 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.”
Also in the same letter, he states: There will be “knowledge transfer” — in Reality-Speak, this simply means IT workers at McClatchy will train the Wipro replacements to take over their jobs.
“This has taken us all by surprise,” IT employee told Computer World. “I’m not saying that we felt untouchable as they have been doing layoffs for the past 10 years, but being part of IT we felt that we had a big part in what happens” in the company.
The affected IT workers are scattered across McClatchy newspaper sites. Some wonder how basic hardware support will be performed after their jobs are eliminated.
Many of the affected IT employees have been with the company for 10, 20 or more years.
Why are the IT transfers of jobs to India, for the most part, being kept out of the public eye by major newspaper chains?
Because the work is going to be done by people who will work for pennies on the dollars, and perhaps, they might be working at IT sweatshops – little pay, no benefits, hard work and long hours.
This could be another reason: The Los Angeles Times, in particular, in columns and editorials, was critical of Southern California Edison’s offshore outsourcing of IT jobs. The utility hired India-based vendors, including Tata Consultancy Services, and then cut some 500 IT jobs, Computer World reported.
“Information technology workers at Southern California Edison have found themselves in the unhappy position of training their own replacements, thanks to a plan by the utility to outsource their jobs to two India-based staffing companies,” the Times wrote in an editorial last year; the editorial focused on the use of visa workers in offshore outsourcing.
Some Tribune employees were offered a “transition bonus” to help with the transfer of work to the contractors.
In other words, before you leave, can you train your IT replacements from India?
The layoffs at Tribune are expected to occur over the summer and into the fall. Some employees will be offered jobs with Tata.
Gannett Eyeing L.A. Times
Employees at Tribune Publishing Co. can also expect more staff cuts if Gannett buys the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other major Tribune newspapers.
Gannett offered Tribune Publishing $15 per share, raising the stakes from the unsolicited $12.24 a share bid.
Gannett’s modus operandi is to buy newspapers and gut them by cutting staff to maximize profits. The Gannett mantra is do more with less.
It owns USA Today and more than 100 other newspapers.
The revised offer was disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It values Chicago-based Tribune Publishing at $864 million instead of the $815 million that includes the assumption of debt.
“We’re looking for the board to … move forward so that we can get in and start our due diligence,” said Robert Dickey, president and chief executive of Gannett. “We’re ready to go tomorrow, if they give us the heads-up.”
Tribune Publishing confirmed receipt of the higher bid Monday and said in a news release that its board will “thoroughly review” Gannett’s revised proposal.
But wait a minute.
Before they bust out the champagne, cut the cake and pat each other on the back, I’d first check with the Department of Justice.
This is why: In March, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit that successfully blocked Tribune Publishing from buying the Press Enterprise and Orange County Register, which were owned by the now-bankrupt Freedom Communications.
Why was the lawsuit filed? The feds alleged that the Tribune purchase of the Press Enterprise and Register would stifle competition.
“If this acquisition is allowed to proceed, newspaper competition will be eliminated and readers and advertisers in Orange and Riverside Counties will suffer,” Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in March “Newspapers continue to play an important role in the dissemination of news and information to readers and remain an important vehicle for advertisers. The Antitrust Division is committed to ensuring that competition in this important industry is protected.”
This is the problem for Gannett.
This year, Gannett purchased the Ventura County Star and 14 other newspapers including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Star is located in Ventura County, California, which is next to Los Angeles County.
Will this proposed sale of the Los Angeles Times to Gannett stifle competition? Has the Department of Justice signed off on this proposed purchase of the Los Angeles Times by Gannett?
Just saying.
Mexico’s Adios to Chapo
Earlier month, El Chapo was transferred to the worst Mexican prison located near Juarez, Mexico, which is adjacent to El Paso. He was transferred there from the maximum-security Altiplano facility near Mexico City.
Last week, Mexico gave the green light for the U.S. to extradite Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel.
I predicted he would be extradited in two weeks despite legal objections from his lawyer Andres Guzman. El Chapo has become a big security risk to Mexico and an embarrassment to its government.
The country wants him out of Mexico as fast as possible. There are security concerns that the longer he stays in Mexico the more likely his henchmen will try to bust him out.
It’s been two weeks since the transfer to Juarez but by the end of the month or the beginning of June, Chapo will be in a U.S. federal prison.
The U.S officials told CNN that once he is transferred, Guzman could be sent to Brooklyn, New York, to stand trial on federal charges.
Guzman also faces charges in Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New York, Florida and New Hampshire.
That is never going to happen. Chapo will make his first court appearance and be arraigned in a federal court in Texas or California because of security reasons.
New York presents a greater security reason because of the population and logistics.
El Chapo will eventually plead guilty to federal charges. It’s going to be much too costly to put on a show and try El Chapo just to put the drug lord away for life, which will be the foregone conclusion.
Instead, the feds will make a deal with Chapo. He will plead guilty to 30 or 40 years, with the possibility of having time shaved off his prison term if he cooperates with the DEA and other federal agencies.
Chapo will be sent to the Super Max in Colorado where the DEA and other federal agents will befriend him.
Chapo will give information to his captors if it helps him lessen his prison sentence, offering him some hope that he might one day see the light of day.
In Mexico, published reports indicated that El Chap gave officials information about rival drug cartels.
His newfound pals will make El Chapo’s stay at airtight Super Max a bit more comfortable. They will give him candy bars, a television to watch the telenovelas and extra time in the sun to keep Chapo’s memory fresh and his tongue wagging.
El Chapo is the Wikipedia of drug cartels.
The key to making a huge dent on drug cartels will be El Chapo’s airlines that shipped tons of cocaine to many countries.
The airline reportedly consist of 599 airplanes and thousands of runways in Mexico: Where the planes were going, who were the unofficial air traffic controllers, what was being loaded on the airplanes and where are the drugs being stored? Who are the people on the payroll on both sides of the border and who is doing the money laundering?
Once El Chapo crosses the U.S. border there will be a lot of paper shredders going 24/7 throughout the world. and the piecemeal and quiet sale of Chapo’s airline will take place.