Merschel: 25-year DMN employee describes the anguish of getting let go
A few words about severance pay from a guy who was severed.
BY MIKE MERSCHEL
Note: Mike was the highly-respected, popular book editor at The Dallas Morning News until ….
He wrote this exclusively for Dallas News Guild.
In my 25 years as a Dallas Morning News employee, I didn’t think a whole lot about how I’d be treated when the end came. Journalists aren’t supposed to dwell on such things. We do what we do because we love it, right? And we’re tough, like soldiers on D-Day – no sense worrying about the shell that might hit you when you just might survive, right? So I just worked hard, trusted that somebody had my back and assumed I would deal with things whenever my number came up.
On the day he was laid off with dozens of others in January 2019 book editor Mike Merschel posed for this photo in his beloved newsroom.
When my number was up in January 2019, the issue suddenly loomed a lot larger in my mind.
On that day, I had one of the better deals. I got just enough to cover me until I landed a contract job 12 weeks later. With my health insurance cut off, I scrambled to switch it to my wife’s employer. It could have been worse. For some of my de-employed colleagues – it was.
I’d never been without a source of income before. There are better feelings than watching your money trickle away, knowing that nothing is coming to replace it. It’s sort of like watching the clock tick while you’re on deadline for a big story, except it’s not your spot on 1A that’s at stake – it’s your house and the groceries and the car payment and the tuition bill.
I suppose you could argue, “It’s just business, Mikey.” That’s true. The company needed me for a while, and paid me a fair wage. And then they didn’t. They had no obligation to warn me about what was about to happen, or to take care of me after that point, right?
Except -- we all know that’s not how journalism works. If you’re a working journalist, you’re already sacrificing wages and job stability and personal safety to do something you think is important. Because it is.
It’s not just a business. You’re not just an employee. You deserve to be treated better. Even when you’re parting ways. Which is why I said “yes” when the Dallas News Guild asked me to write this. Because I believe they are fighting now to protect you in the future.
Guild founders fought for me, even before there was a Guild. Late last year, long after I thought I had cut my final financial ties to the company, I was surprised to find that the severance package had been recalculated for long-term employees. I’ve thanked management in private for that decision, and I’m happy to thank them again now in public.
I doubt it would have happened if someone had not been raising their voice on my behalf.
So I raise my voice to support the Guild now – and I hope you’ll do the same. It’s nice to know that somebody has your back.
Read part one of this series on severance: “Thank you for your service.”
Ready for a bit of irony? The anti-labor law known as “right to work” started with an editorial in The Dallas Morning News 80 years ago. And here we are!
The Dallas News Guild covers more than 130 journalists across all departments of the newsroom, including reporters, columnists, data journalists, copy editors, librarians, web producers, audio producers, page designers, photographers and videographers. Eligible newsroom workers voted in October by a margin of over 75% to form a union.
Keep up with our bargaining efforts on Instagram and Twitter — @DallasNewsGuild — and at the NEWS tab at DallasNewsGuild.org.
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