Gawker
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mtv networks
Exiting MTV Lady Prez Started As Freelancer, Is Thanked For Giving The World 'Celebreality'
MTV president Christina Norman called it quits yesterday, announcing her decision at a council meeting. "Something about 'the company being in a good place,' but wanting some 'time for herself,'" a source said. In a longwinded email to staff, MTV Networks president Van Toffler extolled Norman's virtues, praising her as the "architect" of "VH1's rebirth" who "gave the world 'Celebreality,' along with 'Hip Hop Honors,'" which is very nearly as noble as curing cancer! You've got to hand it to Norman for surviving 17 years at MTV, where she started as a freelance production manager: "Yes, freelance," Toffler writes. See permalancers? You too could maybe possibly someday be a somebody! Yay! Just make sure you don't get sick, because then you're totally screwed. Full announcement after the jump. More » -
evil corporations in action
1,000 MTVN Permalancers To Earn Staff Positions
Over 1,000 lucky MTV Networks contractors are being converted to staff from their previous freelancer status, we've been told, in a move to appease angry contractors upset over December benefit cuts. "In the HR meeting they had yesterday with the middle- to upper-management peeps that have the honor of conveying this (mostly good) news: They paused early on in their presentation to say, "By the way, this is not about the writing and the Gawker...these discussions have been going on for a long time," an MTV source said. We're sure it had nothing whatsoever to do with all those people chanting in the streets, either. And introduced by a definite article? We've arrived. Congratulations on the benefits, kids. Go nuts at the orthopedist's.
Earlier: Memo: Judgment Day On Permanent Jobs For MTV Freelancers -
evil corporations in action
Memo: Judgment Day On Permanent Jobs For MTV Freelancers
The time has come for MTV Networks beleaguered slavey permalancers to learn their fate. Brand-new human resources lady Catherine Houser issued a memo an hour ago to the Viacom subsidiary's contractors, announcing they would learn if they were among the lucky group whose positions will be converted to staff jobs, as promised in December. On what basis will a permalancer earn job security and benefits? Among the benchmarks: "The position would be staff if there was headcount." Uhh...what? "The position transcends a specific project or show," is another. Considering that a key issue in the uproar over Viacom's benefit cuts last month centered around the frequent rotation of workers (which made it hard for them to accrue the required time needed to qualify for benefits), it sounds like MTVN has given itself a whole lot of leeway with that one. So you've been an MTVN cameraman for nine years? As far as Viacom is concerned, you only spent four months at a time on Pimp My Ride and Cribs, so you're shit out of luck, pal. God be with you, and also with you and you. Let us know how it goes. After the jump, the memo in full. More » -
evil nonprofits
Freelancers Union Founder Apologizes For 'Glitches'
Freelancers Union founder Sara Horowitz wants everyone to calm the hell down please! "Health insurance is so central to a sense of security and I realize that this is making people feel really vulnerable, but if they could just know one thing, it's that they really do have health insurance coverage," she told us when we spoke to her this afternoon about the hue and cry raised by the union's membership over a recent change in their benefits. Passing Damage Control 101 with fairly flying colors, Horowitz copped to mishandling how the details of the union's recent health plan switch were circulated to members. "People are clearly frustrated. We really truly apologize for some of these glitches," she said. "It's really our obligation and for a lot of people, we've failed." More » -
evil nonprofits
Freelancers Union Is 'Inconvenient Mess Of An Organization' Says One Member
The Freelancers Union is telling its irate members today that enrollment forms for new health plans were sent to their new provider on Monday and that all of its members should have ID numbers by tomorrow. Or maybe not! According to one freelancer, Empire's customer service says that FU "had sent over 'only a handful' of enrollment forms, and that it could be weeks before everything is processed." Another union member tells us just the opposite: Blue Cross will backdate applications so that FU enrollees can visit health practitioners today, should they need to. Confusion! Mixed messages! "Needless to say, the Union fucked up completely," said the same member. Did the Freelancers Union learn nothing after helping organize striking Viacom permalancers last month? Cost-cutting happens everywhere and always will. But the way bad news is delivered is, in large part, how people will remember you as an organization. Quit screwing it up! More » -
evil nonprofits
Freelancers Union Health Benefits SNAFU Has Members Fuming
What's this? Members of the Freelancers Union are up in arms over badly-executed changes to their health insurance benefits! Oh, the irony! On November 30, the union, which says it "represents the needs and concerns of America's growing independent workforce," sent a memo out to its 15,000 New York metropolitan-area members who receive health insurance through the organization, announcing that coverage under their current health plan, HIP, would end December 31 in favor of more expensive coverage under Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. "If you want to wake up with insurance on New Year's Day, you have to let us know which of the plans from Empire or PerfectHealth you want," the announcement read. We're hearing that, despite having completed all the paperwork required for the union-wide switch, plenty of freelancers are indeed waking up this morning to an uninsured New Year! "FU dropped the ball on this," one union member complains on the chat section of the organization's site. More » -
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evil corporations in action
Fountain Pens To The Ready! WGA Teams Up Today With MTV Freelancers
"Viacom will double its revenue from digital this year," reads this flier from the Writers Guild of America, members of which will demonstrate alongside Viacom "freelancers" this afternoon at 1pm. Where do they come by this information? From remarks made this year by Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. Ha! That'll teach you to talk up your company's cash flow just before yanking benefits in a move towards "efficiency"! -
not afraid to be servicey
Viacom Just The Tip Of The Iceberg That Is Our Permalance Society
Some "permalancers" at Viacom's MTV Networks scored significant gains today when the company announced that they were rolling back changes they'd made to contractor benefits—though there are still issues regarding benefits for contract employees who haven't been at work for more than a year. Freelancers at the entertainment giant and at other places of "employment" are still in limbo, in many ways. More » -
Rabble Rabble! Viacom Walkout [Flickr]
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union!
Viacom Walkout #2: MTV Shamed Into Hiding Their Times Square View
On Day 2 of The Great Viacom Walkouts of 2007 in Times Square, the "freelancers" were really getting organized. There were better signs ("This is a Kurt Loder of Crap"), more literature ("Let's Find Out If We Really Are Freelancers?"), and a list was being circulated of everyone's personal email addresses, "so we can organize a website that people can go to for information." A union rep from the Radio-Television Broadcast Engineers Union was circling the crowd, and by 3:30 people were already spouting the party line: "Unless we have some sort of collective bargaining agreement, they can do whatever they want to us," one guy said. More »
permalancers
New York, 3:09 AM
Sat Nov 22
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