Zell asks for a raise

By Lou Grant | Feb 07, 8:17 PM

On the heals of dismissing twelve people in the Tribune Co. human resources department here it is, today's e-mail from Sam:

From: Talk to Sam

Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 11:23 AM

Subject: My salary

Fellow Employees,

You may have heard me say that I will be taking an annual salary of 50 cents. Apparently, that figure was disturbing to some people. Someone on my team recently received an e-mail from an employee who was concerned that 50 cents does not divide evenly into 26 paychecks.

So, I've decided we should form a committee, hold a meeting, and then hire a compensation consultant to decide if my salary should be increased to 52 cents a year.

While I'm sure that falls under the cap for raises, it may be against some old policy restricting salary increases for employees with less than 12 months of tenure.

Do I need a committee, meeting and another consultant to change that policy?

Oh, that's right, I'm in charge now. What policy?

More to come…

Sam

From the salty language to the new look of the employee handbook to the decisions to begin terminating corporate personnel, Sam Zell has been shaking things up at the Tribune Co. and its properties. He is the new employee, looking around and asking why do we do it that way? Instead of accepting the answer given, he is proposing to look at everything from a fresh perspective; zero balancing is the term I've heard. Everything must be justified.

His confrontational style, such as laying a "fuck you" on a photographer at an employee meeting in Orlando, is being parsed and debated. I fall into the camp that believes that the employee, Sara Fajardo, did show some "journalistic conceit" in her questioning. I also believe Zell owes an explanation of how his demand that employees "question authority" jives with his contempt when Fajardo turned away from him.

And, the j-school brats are laying it on this guy to heavy. His style, from outward appearances, is not nearly as heavy handed as Col. Robert McCormick or Lord Conrad Black. A large ego seems to go with the turf. There is more to come and I'm staying tuned.

Tagged: Conrad Black, Tribune Company