The following are comments from the article by Alison Gerber's Chattanooga Times Free Press publishing salaries of 12,800 employees at TVA in March 2012. TVA employees realize that disclosing the pay of every employee invades their personal privacy. Read some of these comments and then cancel your Chattanooga Times Free Press subscription at 423-757-6262. Get the same news on the internet and save your subscription fee. You do not need to pay for a digital subscription to the paper, all you need are: http://www.timesfreepress.com/ & http://www.nooga.com/.
John_Proctor said...
So, Ms. Gerber, how about you post your salary.
I know you don't have to, the paper is not a government entity, not yet at
least, but if it's okay for TVA then fairness dictates that you do likewise.
sage1 said...
I was told by a TVA worker (my sister) that their wages were negotiated and
averaged (not the highest, nor the lowest) of the power generating companies in
the Southeast and states that border Tennessee. Reck'n Ya'll can find that out
too? It might go a long ways towards verifying your stance that they are
overpaid, or it might bring about an "OH...now I understand..." or a "Well, I
guess their NOT overpaid..." moment for everyone.
Just a suggestion.
So, Ms. Gerber, how about you post your salary.
I know you don't have to, the paper is not a government entity, not yet at
least, but if it's okay for TVA then fairness dictates that you do likewise.
sage1 said...
I was told by a TVA worker (my sister) that their wages were negotiated and
averaged (not the highest, nor the lowest) of the power generating companies in
the Southeast and states that border Tennessee. Reck'n Ya'll can find that out
too? It might go a long ways towards verifying your stance that they are
overpaid, or it might bring about an "OH...now I understand..." or a "Well, I
guess their NOT overpaid..." moment for everyone.
Just a suggestion.
Chattanooga1 said...
This article has listed just a few examples of an extensive list of negative
issues that the posting of this information is going to cause many of your
current Times Free Press customers (who also happen to be TVA employees) but I
have yet to understand what the "positives" are by posting this sensitive
information. What benefits will come from providing this level of information?
Will the benefits outweigh the problems that the release of this information
will cause to a large amount of people? Would you feel comfortable if everyone's
salary at your office or church was released?
TFP added a name search for looking up individuals, the TFP is just interested
in selling papers and invading the privacy of government and state employees.
There is no benefit to having a name lookup unless TFP wants to profit from
the employees demise and invade the privacy by listing 1000s of personal salaries.
As a subscriber to your newspaper, I have never understood why TVA seems to
typically be portrayed in a negative manner, considering the amount of service
that their hard-working employees put in to make sure "the lights stay on" for
those in the Valley. If this sensitive information is posted (as your articles
states), this will help my decision to cancel my support of this
local newspaper as I'm sure many others will feel the same.
tipper said...
Where is the story? This is a case from a professional journalism point of
view where TFP is making the news rather than reporting it; the story is not the
salaries but the reactions to them. As I pointed out to Ms. Gerber, it is like
pushing someone off a building and running downstairs to write a story about the
blood spatter. I have not heard any clamoring to know TVA salaries. The Freedom
of Information Act is available to anyone, not just newspapers. One has to
wonder what the agenda is here. With all the fervor against government coming
from the right--Chattanooga being a place with no shortage of
ultra-conservatives--there is nothing to be gained with the publishing of TVA
salaries except animus. Everybody knows that TVA employees are paid from
revenues earned in the sale of power to various distributors. Taxpayer monies
are not involved--a fact that the TFP needs to emphasize. Hopefully, TFP's
publisher and Ms. Gerber will read some of these posts. My opinion, however, due
to the kind of crazy stuff we get on this site, they seldom do. In any event,
this type of journalism fuels the fire that the press's approval ratings has hit
rock bottom and has become very unprofessional compared to decades
past.
acerigger said...
The people who want to privatize the TVA are still hard at work.
volfan7333 said...
There is no reason or logic stated in this article as to the reason that
names are being used. Ms. Gerber states because they have done this to other
individuals in the past or that other newspapers have used this approach the
action is justified. This is a immature, childish rationalization instead of a
logical reason. It is irresponsible for the paper to publish any names (TVA
employee or otherwise). The title/position with the salary provide the same
transparency without violating anyone’s privacy or risking their personal
security.
JonRoss said...
Can we all agree that Ms. Gerber needs to flesh out her bio ? Click on her
bio above and you see her phone number. Thats it.
chattn said...
Ms. Gerber openly states that she has heard from many TVA employees who have
requested that their personal information not be posted, yet she seems to be
proud of the fact that she has the power to totally ignore the requests of the
hard-working employees in the area. These employees are requesting nothing more
than that their personal information remain personal. They wrote to her
believing that if they spoke up about their concerns, she would listen.
However, she has callously chosen to ignore their concerns. The number of
emails she received reflects the level of concern these workers feel, but Ms.
Gerber's ability (power) to ignore these concerns trumps their request for
privacy.
I am not a TVA employee, but my response to such arrogance is to cancel my
paper subscription! If the paper will post the salaries of others without an
obvious, valid reason, it can invade the privacy of anyone in the area. The
paper does not care about its readers; the readers need to go else where for
their news! CANCEL your paper subscription no matter where you work, and urge
everyone you know to do the same! Call the TFP to stop the newspaper number at 757-6262.
Filbert said...
Has the TFP considered the potential fallout of publishing the salaries of
TVA employees just for the fun of it? Sure, they say they will use it for
identifying salary deviations. But the fact is that the TFP will anger their
subscribers that work for TVA. What if all of the TVA employees angered by the
irresponsibleness of the TFP canceled their subscriptions to the paper? Is the
benefit from publishing the salaries worth the loss of subscriptions? Press on
TFP!
chrisntn said...
In a style of careless statement of facts so common in media today, Ms.
Gerber addressed the issue of the fact that TVA is funded solely by power sales
but added a qualifier that was either an honest error or a purposely misleading
statement.
In fact, it was not 20 years ago that TVA became self-financing. No, TVA
became self-financing thru power sales in 1959. Say it again. NINETEEN FIFTY
NINE. However, TVA also manages public lands, campgrounds, and recreation areas
for which it once received federal dollars. I assume that is the federal
funding of which she speaks. But for the last 20 years, TVA has been forced to
pay for all the land and recreation area needs out of power funds. In other
parts of the country, federal dollars pay for these area thru the Department of
the Interior programs. That means that in the Tennessee Valley we are basically
taxed twice for these public lands, campgrounds, boat launches, etc. What other
power company has to do that? NONE.
Finally, how much money did TVA receive for non-power statuatory obligations
back when they were still appropriated? It would have been approximately 3-5%
of the total revenue in the last year received. The vast majority of TVA's
funding came from the sale of power even back then, and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT from
sales of electricity now. Why is this such a difficult concept to
grasp?
This is very important to understand because it means market forces have a
real impact on TVA in spite of the fact that is is federally owned. If rates
get too high, businesses leave the Valley. Businesses leaving is not in line
with the TVA mission. If the TVA mission is not being achieved, then the TVA
board starts getting calls and before long actions are being taken to put things
right.
FreeSpeech1984 said...
Ms. Gerber, Will you take responsiblity for putting a target on my back.
Reminds me of Orwell's 1984 where demigods like the TFP run amock of hard
working individuals trying to keep the lights on. Since I work for a Federal
Agency do I need to tell you my PSA score? Why not get the salaries and pay for
all charitable agencies and non-profits like churches? I have had enough. I
will find something else to wrap my fish with.
truthNknowledge said...
Really, what's the benefit Ms. Gerber of posting names vs. job titles? Tell
me. So that everyone knows what a single mom makes as an accounting clerk?
That's very important information isn't it?
The backlash you will receive, both polictically and economically will be
great.
This is seen by the public of simply a smear campaign with no regard to
everyday public's privacy. These are people's jobs, careers, and private
information you are intruding.
Get ready for cancelations. Don't forget most in the valley either know
someone or have family that has made a fair career at TVA. If this is your
intent, you are succeeding.
I don't subscribe to your paper, but after reading your article, that many
have pointed out the lack of facts and poor logic, I can see why your paper
struggles and even perhaps why you go for what appears to be an easy attention
getter. Well, you've got folks attention :)
drjefe said...
So, I get the First Amendment thing, and I get the Freedom of Information Act
thing, but as a journalist you've failed in conveying the importance of the
story here! You seem to be exercising your legal right for the sake of
exercising your legal right. Where's the greater good for society in publishing
TVA salaries? Do you think it will make my electric bill go down? For that
matter, where's the greater good in doing this for the TFP? Do you think it
will make your readership go up? Nope. This is a lose-lose if the TFP follows
through. The individual hard-working men and women of TVA (and for the record I
am not one) could at a minimum face embarassment, and the TFP will at a minimum
lose subscribers (including me). Publish titles and salaries if you must, but
not names and salaries. I agree with others that the latter represents a
violation of privacy and benefits no one, including the TFP! Exercise some
corporate responsibility here; do the right thing; be a good neighbor! Don't
publish names and salaries.
MellissaCook said...
I will be canceling my subscription to your paper. There is not a legit
reason to publish TVA salaries and you will have undone much of the good TVA has
tried to do to increase morale at TVA. You will have also decreased productivity
for the foreseeable future. When the paper loses a significant amount of your
subscriptions, don't waste your time publishing a
retraction.
MellissaCook said...
" I hope any negativity won't last long". Good luck with that. I "hoped" you
wouldn't publish the salaries. We saw how that turned out.
Right2boycott said...
I do not work for TVA so I don't have to deal with this invasion of privacy.
There is really nothing in this article that would suggest the TFP had any real
legitimate reason to request that information. They can...so they did. Then they
decided to violate the privacy of each employee of TVA and post it...because we
live in the US and they can. But do you know what else we can do in the US? We
can cancel our subscriptions to this rag and we can notify the advertisers that
pay the TFP that we are going to boycott their products and services if they do
not stop advertising in the TFP. Of course you are free to do whatever you
choose...great thing to live in America.
tennman9898 said...
Hey TFP...just a thought...you might want to cross-reference your list of
subscribers with your list of TVA employees...I'm betting that you can count on
your CANCELLATION LIST matching those lists.
I can promise you that I will be calling to have mine put on there the minute
I see that salary list!
unrighteous said...
And, by the way . . . I am an 11 year employee with TVA and the payout I
recieved was not $8300.00. It was 2100.00 before taxes, so your "average
employee gets 8300.00" is wrong. I think out of "public interest", you should
publish your employees salaries from the newspaper rag. And, if it weren't for
TVA and it's employees, this entire valley would still be twenty years behind
the times for flood control, economic development, recreation, electricity and a
whole host of other categories. So, lets see if you have the guts to divulge
your salary.
unrighteous said...
Oh yeah, . . . . How do we know you havent decided to edit some of these
responses? It would seem right for you to sway that way.
unrighteous said...
I need to know the salary of Judge Andrew Jackson the sixth in
Knoxville.
mrredskin said...
why did you post the average bonus instead of the median? since the TFP's
INITIAL goal was to post high-end salaries, this seems like the obvious
statistic to post. that's because it is, and you chose to post the one with the
more exagerated bonus.
just take a look at all of the articles about TVA in the paper. Every single
one is negative.
TFP is about to lose quite a few subscribers due to this. I'm sure they
already have with the "no comment" rule they put into place several months ago
for their "factual" articles.
sage1 said...
TFP has become a joke of a paper. I refuse to call it a NEWSpaper because it
is very biased politically rather than Fair and Impartial reporting. TFP tries
to spin the news it prints towards it's political favor or beliefs. They
obviously have a vendetta against TVA. I refuse to participate because I do have
friends and family that work or have worked at TVA, but who doesn't? I have
decided the moment I see this personal infomation in the TFP, I will support
them and cancel. I'll take the USA Today in it's place. 14.95 per month and
includes the E-edition. Go ahead TFP....Make my day.
TinaN said...
Many of the complaints are without merit, in the sense that TFP choosing not
to publish the information won't actually resolve them. In the same way that
TFP requested and received the information, your coworkers, family members,
friends, enemies, and so on can still request it any time! That is, TFP is not
"intruding on your privacy" this way because you currently have no right to
privacy in these matters in the first place. If you feel strongly about that,
the people you need to contact are your US Congressmen. Otherwise, you're
making a big deal just to gain imaginary satisfaction while you remain as
vulnerable to privacy intrusions as ever. /// On the matter of fair and
objective reporting, I agree strongly with the complaints. Elementary
statistics teaches that using Average as a measure of central tendency is
vulnerable to skewing due to a small amount of outliers. Median is a generally
preferable measure to provide, and you can still point out specific outliers as
relevant. ... Which I notice is used for the calculation of base pay without
any qualifiers for the median years of experience and the most commonly
performed jobs. I haven't reviewed a sufficient number of articles on this to
make any kind of definitive judgment, but I will say I'm not surprised that
there are people in the comments suggesting motives other than promoting
oversight to the publication of this information. It's being handled poorly,
though whether through a lack of familiarity with the methods of unbiased
management of statistics or other motivations, I couldn't say.
tennman9898 said...
Since the salaries were published on your website last night, I called and
cancelled my subscription this morning, as I promised I would do.
If TFP were
a REAL newspaper, they would have something else to report besides
salaries.
chattn said...
***My subscription is now cancelled too!***
I urge anyone upset about the newspaper publishing the personal information
of your friends, neighbors, and relatives to cancel also! I am not employed by
TVA, but I am supporting those employees on this issue. We can't sit back and
tell ourselves that this doesn't impact us simply because we don't work at TVA.
We could be next! I don't want my personal information posted publicly either
and am willing to cancel the newspaper to show my support. I hope there are a
lot of you willing to cancel the paper also!
Call the NFP Stop/Start newspaper number - 757-6262
abcd1234 said...
This is clearly just a money racket for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I
will never purchase a one of their papers again and I would encourage ALL TVA
employees to cancel their subscription as well.
A true journalist would be talented enough to come up with stories people are
entrigued to read. However, it appears they have to post people's personal
business, hoping the nosies out their will purchase their paper!
bill76 said...
Some of us will remember the attitude of our local newspaper next time we're
called out during severe weather to restore your power. How about a story about
how TVA employees put their lives at risk to keep the lights on for everyone?
How about reporting the volunteer work many of us do in the community or the way
we use our excessive (in your mind, at least) salaries to adopt children from
foreign countries who would otherwise die due to lack of sufficient food or
basic medical care? Why not write about the hard work it takes to become a
well-paid engineer or nuclear plant operator? Why not write about the engineers
who work countless hours of unpaid overtime each month (at TVA and elsewhere)
because the work has to get done to keep our society running? I know why. It's
because your industry is dying, and you're desperate to "expose" something in
order to remain relevant in a post-newsprint world. Good luck with
that.
valleyman said...
I cannot find pay for any current plant managers. It seems either TVA was
selective in their releases or Times Free Press is selective in publishing. It
must be nice to be exempt from FOIA or in cahoots with TVA for press. Seems
with bad reactor reviews this would need some responsible personnel.
valleyman said...
I've still yet to see any TVA plant managers salaries released. So much for
transparency. I think this may be the real story. Times Free Press leaves out
information based on TVA pressure or TVA selectively uses the FOIA act for own
benefit?
sage1 said...
Hmm....I betcha this entire article and comments gets deleted in
5...4...3...2...........
Fedup6789 said...
You failed to list the plant managers salaries. I didn't expect your
information to be accurate or complete. Care to address why it was
omitted?
TVAdiverguy said...
It looks like there are many names missing from the database. So, what do I
have to do to exclude my name from it? Do I need to call or email Ms. Gerber
personally? I'm sure she cares about each and every one of us who feel
personally affronted by this and will immediately remove our names from the list
along with the ones already not listed.
TVAdiverguy said...
Ms. Gerber,
We're all still waiting on you to post Times Free Press employee salaries.
Wouldn't that be fair? Because of what Times Free Press asked for and what TVA
agreed to, we now have a target on us. I hold both parties accountable. OK, so
the FOIA says its public information. Does that mean that our names have to be
connected to that salary?
Although, I am currently not a TFP subscriber and now never will be again,
my father worked for the Chattanooga Times (before the joining of the two
papers in what has resulted in this pitiful excuse for a media outlet) for
40 years and has informed me he will be discontinuing his subscription as well.
Gerbiotch said...
right2inform said... We have a right to review the Whitfield County, GA
Records. Mr. James D Espy (reported as Jimmy Espy) Alison Gerber
2306 Shannondale Lane Dalton, GA 30720 Residential Improvement = $167,226
Land Value= $15,750 Arces = 0.50 Home GPS Coordinates Lat, Long: 34.7268, -84.9948
Public Parcel Details: 12-336-08-112 Whitfield County, GA
http://www.whitfieldcountyga.com/freeance/Client/PublicAccess1/index.html?appconfig=1
Use the icons on left, & select Lat,Long Icon – insert coordinates, then use
Identify Features Icon on property 12-336-08-112 to get all of the above
details. Does this feel like an invasion of privacy? sage1 said... I find it
interesting as to why a person that lives in Whitfield county GA (And apparently
living in SIN with Mr. Espy? I am SHOCKED…SHOCKED I say!...hahaha...just had to
throw that out there!) and buys her electricity from Georgia Power and not TVA
has such a vile hatred of TVA and the people that work there. I wonder if her
salary is the same as a man in her position? Curious minds want to know…..How
said... How do you afford a 189,000 house bought in Jul 2003 on a papers
salary? We demand to know! Sorry that the value of your house has been going
down. I hope Jimmy Espy isn't the same Jimmy Espy who has been charged with 8
different things in Chattanooga. Including and not limited to DUI, Assault(DOM),
and Possession of drug paraphernalia.
http://cjusgeneralsessions.hamiltontn.gov/appfolder/GS_Web_Calendar.aspx
(Search for Jimmy Espy)
Gerbiotch said...
GerberSux said... I'd like to thank ChrisTN for attempting to set the record
straight on Ms. Gerber's misleading statement regarding the recency of TVA's
receipt of appropriated funds from Congress. While she accurately states that
appropriated funds from the U.S. Government "initially funded the construction
of TVA dams," she needs to be a touch careful with her verbiage -- the inclusion
of the words "Power Plants" in that statement is misleading, whether
deliberately or due to ignorance. The only "Power Plants" funded by
appropriations were those hydraulic production generators at the dam sites,
which were completed by the mid-50's. All coal-fired, gas and oil-fired, and
nuclear plants were funded through the sale of debt. And in fact, TVA has been
repaying the U.S. Government for the initial appropriations that were received
for the construction of dams and the initial infrastructure in the amount of
around $20 million per year (including interest charges) since at least the time
that TVA's power program became self funded. TVA continued to receive federal
appropriations from the US government to maintain recreational sites and provide
flood control and other activities (small funding) through 1999, and since that
time has provided all these public services through power revenues as well. So
Ms. Gerber's argument that she needs to publish every TVA employee's salary
because TVA "was funded by taxpayers...[u]ntil two decades ago" is based on
half-truths and misstatements... not the hallmark of a professional journalist.
However, since Ms. Gerber seems to believe that all publicly-available
information should be spotlighted for ease of consumption by all the readers of
the Times Free Press, here's a nugget of publicly available information that may
be of great interest to those who find this article interesting: according to
publicly available information from Whitfield County, Ms. Gerber owns a home at
2306 Shannondale Lane, Dalton, GA 30720, which the tax records indicate she
purchased along with a Mr. Jimmy Espy. I'd encourage all those with more time on
their hands than I have to consider posting other publicly available information
about Ms. Gerber on the site. It's a topic of great interest to those of us who
are deeply interested in her self-serving hateful little decision related to
individual's publicly available yet personal information!!!
scout29c said...
The publication of TVA salaries proved one rumor that has been floating
around TVA for some time. To make money at TVA, you need to either go into
management or move around. Management has a higher salary than workers – no
news there, that’s to be expected. It’s the salaries of those employees that
move around compared to those that stay in one place that proves the rumor.
You can’t tell that just by looking at the TimesFreePress’s list but if you
work at TVA, it’s obvious. Simple put: it doesn’t pay to become an expert in
any process or task. The money is in moving around or go into management. The
news to TVA employees from TFP’s list of salaries: Don’t waste your time
becoming an expert or knowledgeable about any task at TVA, move around or go
into management.
Two people start work at TVA. One moves around to a different position every
three years – but doesn’t go into management – just moves to different jobs at
the same level. The other stays at the same job and become an expert. At the
end of ten years the one that moved around will make more than the expert. It’s
in the salaries listing the TFP was so kind to publish. You can be sure all the
ones that have become experts in their field see it, feel really stupid and
financially unappreciated.
Fedup6789 said...
Why did you leave so many off the list? If it is supposed to be all TVA
employees, it should be ALL employees. It seems your reporting isn't complete or
accurate. Seems like shady reporting to me. Have any integrity?
Reardon said...
What would be interesting to know is how the pay scale compares to comparable
private sector positions.
...Because we all know the underlying belief is that TVA employees are
grossly overpaid relative to their workload. So TFP staffers step up and put your
salaries in print.
write2form said...
The emphasis appears to be on looking up individual names and salaries. If
the TFP were really interested in providing information that could be useful,
the emphasis should be on Job Title and Company for the search dropdowns.
People should be looking for a certain job category at a certain company. Why
does the viewer need a name listed anyway? It seems the TFP has a list of names
for nosey busy bodies to invade individual’s privacy, instead of making this an
informative guide. The righ2know has made lots of customers for LifeLock.com from TVA.
Take the Names off or make them less important by only
listing the first name? Why are you invading the privacy of thousands of
people? Do you think this makes people subscribe to the TFP? Are you
interesting in making the TFP a competitor to the National Enquirer or the
Star?
Make this usable for the job searchers and query by job titles, and forget
the names. There are so many names, it is not possible to figure out any
pattern based on gender status, race, creed or whatever smokescreen that you
purport. What people want to know are job titles and the associated
salaries.TFP now has a name search for looking up individuals, the TFP is just interested
Make this usable for the job searchers and query by job titles, and forget
the names. There are so many names, it is not possible to figure out any
pattern based on gender status, race, creed or whatever smokescreen that you
purport. What people want to know are job titles and the associated
salaries.
This article has listed just a few examples of an extensive list of negative
issues that the posting of this information is going to cause many of your
current Times Free Press customers (who also happen to be TVA employees) but I
have yet to understand what the "positives" are by posting this sensitive
information. What benefits will come from providing this level of information?
Will the benefits outweigh the problems that the release of this information
will cause to a large amount of people? Would you feel comfortable if everyone's
salary at your office or church was released?
TFP added a name search for looking up individuals, the TFP is just interested
in selling papers and invading the privacy of government and state employees.
There is no benefit to having a name lookup unless TFP wants to profit from
the employees demise and invade the privacy by listing 1000s of personal salaries.
As a subscriber to your newspaper, I have never understood why TVA seems to
typically be portrayed in a negative manner, considering the amount of service
that their hard-working employees put in to make sure "the lights stay on" for
those in the Valley. If this sensitive information is posted (as your articles
states), this will help my decision to cancel my support of this
local newspaper as I'm sure many others will feel the same.
tipper said...
Where is the story? This is a case from a professional journalism point of
view where TFP is making the news rather than reporting it; the story is not the
salaries but the reactions to them. As I pointed out to Ms. Gerber, it is like
pushing someone off a building and running downstairs to write a story about the
blood spatter. I have not heard any clamoring to know TVA salaries. The Freedom
of Information Act is available to anyone, not just newspapers. One has to
wonder what the agenda is here. With all the fervor against government coming
from the right--Chattanooga being a place with no shortage of
ultra-conservatives--there is nothing to be gained with the publishing of TVA
salaries except animus. Everybody knows that TVA employees are paid from
revenues earned in the sale of power to various distributors. Taxpayer monies
are not involved--a fact that the TFP needs to emphasize. Hopefully, TFP's
publisher and Ms. Gerber will read some of these posts. My opinion, however, due
to the kind of crazy stuff we get on this site, they seldom do. In any event,
this type of journalism fuels the fire that the press's approval ratings has hit
rock bottom and has become very unprofessional compared to decades
past.
acerigger said...
The people who want to privatize the TVA are still hard at work.
volfan7333 said...
There is no reason or logic stated in this article as to the reason that
names are being used. Ms. Gerber states because they have done this to other
individuals in the past or that other newspapers have used this approach the
action is justified. This is a immature, childish rationalization instead of a
logical reason. It is irresponsible for the paper to publish any names (TVA
employee or otherwise). The title/position with the salary provide the same
transparency without violating anyone’s privacy or risking their personal
security.
JonRoss said...
Can we all agree that Ms. Gerber needs to flesh out her bio ? Click on her
bio above and you see her phone number. Thats it.
chattn said...
Ms. Gerber openly states that she has heard from many TVA employees who have
requested that their personal information not be posted, yet she seems to be
proud of the fact that she has the power to totally ignore the requests of the
hard-working employees in the area. These employees are requesting nothing more
than that their personal information remain personal. They wrote to her
believing that if they spoke up about their concerns, she would listen.
However, she has callously chosen to ignore their concerns. The number of
emails she received reflects the level of concern these workers feel, but Ms.
Gerber's ability (power) to ignore these concerns trumps their request for
privacy.
I am not a TVA employee, but my response to such arrogance is to cancel my
paper subscription! If the paper will post the salaries of others without an
obvious, valid reason, it can invade the privacy of anyone in the area. The
paper does not care about its readers; the readers need to go else where for
their news! CANCEL your paper subscription no matter where you work, and urge
everyone you know to do the same! Call the TFP to stop the newspaper number at 757-6262.
Filbert said...
Has the TFP considered the potential fallout of publishing the salaries of
TVA employees just for the fun of it? Sure, they say they will use it for
identifying salary deviations. But the fact is that the TFP will anger their
subscribers that work for TVA. What if all of the TVA employees angered by the
irresponsibleness of the TFP canceled their subscriptions to the paper? Is the
benefit from publishing the salaries worth the loss of subscriptions? Press on
TFP!
chrisntn said...
In a style of careless statement of facts so common in media today, Ms.
Gerber addressed the issue of the fact that TVA is funded solely by power sales
but added a qualifier that was either an honest error or a purposely misleading
statement.
In fact, it was not 20 years ago that TVA became self-financing. No, TVA
became self-financing thru power sales in 1959. Say it again. NINETEEN FIFTY
NINE. However, TVA also manages public lands, campgrounds, and recreation areas
for which it once received federal dollars. I assume that is the federal
funding of which she speaks. But for the last 20 years, TVA has been forced to
pay for all the land and recreation area needs out of power funds. In other
parts of the country, federal dollars pay for these area thru the Department of
the Interior programs. That means that in the Tennessee Valley we are basically
taxed twice for these public lands, campgrounds, boat launches, etc. What other
power company has to do that? NONE.
Finally, how much money did TVA receive for non-power statuatory obligations
back when they were still appropriated? It would have been approximately 3-5%
of the total revenue in the last year received. The vast majority of TVA's
funding came from the sale of power even back then, and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT from
sales of electricity now. Why is this such a difficult concept to
grasp?
This is very important to understand because it means market forces have a
real impact on TVA in spite of the fact that is is federally owned. If rates
get too high, businesses leave the Valley. Businesses leaving is not in line
with the TVA mission. If the TVA mission is not being achieved, then the TVA
board starts getting calls and before long actions are being taken to put things
right.
FreeSpeech1984 said...
Ms. Gerber, Will you take responsiblity for putting a target on my back.
Reminds me of Orwell's 1984 where demigods like the TFP run amock of hard
working individuals trying to keep the lights on. Since I work for a Federal
Agency do I need to tell you my PSA score? Why not get the salaries and pay for
all charitable agencies and non-profits like churches? I have had enough. I
will find something else to wrap my fish with.
truthNknowledge said...
Really, what's the benefit Ms. Gerber of posting names vs. job titles? Tell
me. So that everyone knows what a single mom makes as an accounting clerk?
That's very important information isn't it?
The backlash you will receive, both polictically and economically will be
great.
This is seen by the public of simply a smear campaign with no regard to
everyday public's privacy. These are people's jobs, careers, and private
information you are intruding.
Get ready for cancelations. Don't forget most in the valley either know
someone or have family that has made a fair career at TVA. If this is your
intent, you are succeeding.
I don't subscribe to your paper, but after reading your article, that many
have pointed out the lack of facts and poor logic, I can see why your paper
struggles and even perhaps why you go for what appears to be an easy attention
getter. Well, you've got folks attention :)
drjefe said...
So, I get the First Amendment thing, and I get the Freedom of Information Act
thing, but as a journalist you've failed in conveying the importance of the
story here! You seem to be exercising your legal right for the sake of
exercising your legal right. Where's the greater good for society in publishing
TVA salaries? Do you think it will make my electric bill go down? For that
matter, where's the greater good in doing this for the TFP? Do you think it
will make your readership go up? Nope. This is a lose-lose if the TFP follows
through. The individual hard-working men and women of TVA (and for the record I
am not one) could at a minimum face embarassment, and the TFP will at a minimum
lose subscribers (including me). Publish titles and salaries if you must, but
not names and salaries. I agree with others that the latter represents a
violation of privacy and benefits no one, including the TFP! Exercise some
corporate responsibility here; do the right thing; be a good neighbor! Don't
publish names and salaries.
MellissaCook said...
I will be canceling my subscription to your paper. There is not a legit
reason to publish TVA salaries and you will have undone much of the good TVA has
tried to do to increase morale at TVA. You will have also decreased productivity
for the foreseeable future. When the paper loses a significant amount of your
subscriptions, don't waste your time publishing a
retraction.
MellissaCook said...
" I hope any negativity won't last long". Good luck with that. I "hoped" you
wouldn't publish the salaries. We saw how that turned out.
Right2boycott said...
I do not work for TVA so I don't have to deal with this invasion of privacy.
There is really nothing in this article that would suggest the TFP had any real
legitimate reason to request that information. They can...so they did. Then they
decided to violate the privacy of each employee of TVA and post it...because we
live in the US and they can. But do you know what else we can do in the US? We
can cancel our subscriptions to this rag and we can notify the advertisers that
pay the TFP that we are going to boycott their products and services if they do
not stop advertising in the TFP. Of course you are free to do whatever you
choose...great thing to live in America.
tennman9898 said...
Hey TFP...just a thought...you might want to cross-reference your list of
subscribers with your list of TVA employees...I'm betting that you can count on
your CANCELLATION LIST matching those lists.
I can promise you that I will be calling to have mine put on there the minute
I see that salary list!
unrighteous said...
And, by the way . . . I am an 11 year employee with TVA and the payout I
recieved was not $8300.00. It was 2100.00 before taxes, so your "average
employee gets 8300.00" is wrong. I think out of "public interest", you should
publish your employees salaries from the newspaper rag. And, if it weren't for
TVA and it's employees, this entire valley would still be twenty years behind
the times for flood control, economic development, recreation, electricity and a
whole host of other categories. So, lets see if you have the guts to divulge
your salary.
unrighteous said...
Oh yeah, . . . . How do we know you havent decided to edit some of these
responses? It would seem right for you to sway that way.
unrighteous said...
I need to know the salary of Judge Andrew Jackson the sixth in
Knoxville.
mrredskin said...
why did you post the average bonus instead of the median? since the TFP's
INITIAL goal was to post high-end salaries, this seems like the obvious
statistic to post. that's because it is, and you chose to post the one with the
more exagerated bonus.
just take a look at all of the articles about TVA in the paper. Every single
one is negative.
TFP is about to lose quite a few subscribers due to this. I'm sure they
already have with the "no comment" rule they put into place several months ago
for their "factual" articles.
sage1 said...
TFP has become a joke of a paper. I refuse to call it a NEWSpaper because it
is very biased politically rather than Fair and Impartial reporting. TFP tries
to spin the news it prints towards it's political favor or beliefs. They
obviously have a vendetta against TVA. I refuse to participate because I do have
friends and family that work or have worked at TVA, but who doesn't? I have
decided the moment I see this personal infomation in the TFP, I will support
them and cancel. I'll take the USA Today in it's place. 14.95 per month and
includes the E-edition. Go ahead TFP....Make my day.
TinaN said...
Many of the complaints are without merit, in the sense that TFP choosing not
to publish the information won't actually resolve them. In the same way that
TFP requested and received the information, your coworkers, family members,
friends, enemies, and so on can still request it any time! That is, TFP is not
"intruding on your privacy" this way because you currently have no right to
privacy in these matters in the first place. If you feel strongly about that,
the people you need to contact are your US Congressmen. Otherwise, you're
making a big deal just to gain imaginary satisfaction while you remain as
vulnerable to privacy intrusions as ever. /// On the matter of fair and
objective reporting, I agree strongly with the complaints. Elementary
statistics teaches that using Average as a measure of central tendency is
vulnerable to skewing due to a small amount of outliers. Median is a generally
preferable measure to provide, and you can still point out specific outliers as
relevant. ... Which I notice is used for the calculation of base pay without
any qualifiers for the median years of experience and the most commonly
performed jobs. I haven't reviewed a sufficient number of articles on this to
make any kind of definitive judgment, but I will say I'm not surprised that
there are people in the comments suggesting motives other than promoting
oversight to the publication of this information. It's being handled poorly,
though whether through a lack of familiarity with the methods of unbiased
management of statistics or other motivations, I couldn't say.
tennman9898 said...
Since the salaries were published on your website last night, I called and
cancelled my subscription this morning, as I promised I would do.
If TFP were
a REAL newspaper, they would have something else to report besides
salaries.
chattn said...
***My subscription is now cancelled too!***
I urge anyone upset about the newspaper publishing the personal information
of your friends, neighbors, and relatives to cancel also! I am not employed by
TVA, but I am supporting those employees on this issue. We can't sit back and
tell ourselves that this doesn't impact us simply because we don't work at TVA.
We could be next! I don't want my personal information posted publicly either
and am willing to cancel the newspaper to show my support. I hope there are a
lot of you willing to cancel the paper also!
Call the NFP Stop/Start newspaper number - 757-6262
abcd1234 said...
This is clearly just a money racket for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I
will never purchase a one of their papers again and I would encourage ALL TVA
employees to cancel their subscription as well.
A true journalist would be talented enough to come up with stories people are
entrigued to read. However, it appears they have to post people's personal
business, hoping the nosies out their will purchase their paper!
bill76 said...
Some of us will remember the attitude of our local newspaper next time we're
called out during severe weather to restore your power. How about a story about
how TVA employees put their lives at risk to keep the lights on for everyone?
How about reporting the volunteer work many of us do in the community or the way
we use our excessive (in your mind, at least) salaries to adopt children from
foreign countries who would otherwise die due to lack of sufficient food or
basic medical care? Why not write about the hard work it takes to become a
well-paid engineer or nuclear plant operator? Why not write about the engineers
who work countless hours of unpaid overtime each month (at TVA and elsewhere)
because the work has to get done to keep our society running? I know why. It's
because your industry is dying, and you're desperate to "expose" something in
order to remain relevant in a post-newsprint world. Good luck with
that.
valleyman said...
I cannot find pay for any current plant managers. It seems either TVA was
selective in their releases or Times Free Press is selective in publishing. It
must be nice to be exempt from FOIA or in cahoots with TVA for press. Seems
with bad reactor reviews this would need some responsible personnel.
valleyman said...
I've still yet to see any TVA plant managers salaries released. So much for
transparency. I think this may be the real story. Times Free Press leaves out
information based on TVA pressure or TVA selectively uses the FOIA act for own
benefit?
sage1 said...
Hmm....I betcha this entire article and comments gets deleted in
5...4...3...2...........
Fedup6789 said...
You failed to list the plant managers salaries. I didn't expect your
information to be accurate or complete. Care to address why it was
omitted?
TVAdiverguy said...
It looks like there are many names missing from the database. So, what do I
have to do to exclude my name from it? Do I need to call or email Ms. Gerber
personally? I'm sure she cares about each and every one of us who feel
personally affronted by this and will immediately remove our names from the list
along with the ones already not listed.
TVAdiverguy said...
Ms. Gerber,
We're all still waiting on you to post Times Free Press employee salaries.
Wouldn't that be fair? Because of what Times Free Press asked for and what TVA
agreed to, we now have a target on us. I hold both parties accountable. OK, so
the FOIA says its public information. Does that mean that our names have to be
connected to that salary?
Although, I am currently not a TFP subscriber and now never will be again,
my father worked for the Chattanooga Times (before the joining of the two
papers in what has resulted in this pitiful excuse for a media outlet) for
40 years and has informed me he will be discontinuing his subscription as well.
Gerbiotch said...
right2inform said... We have a right to review the Whitfield County, GA
Records. Mr. James D Espy (reported as Jimmy Espy) Alison Gerber
2306 Shannondale Lane Dalton, GA 30720 Residential Improvement = $167,226
Land Value= $15,750 Arces = 0.50 Home GPS Coordinates Lat, Long: 34.7268, -84.9948
Public Parcel Details: 12-336-08-112 Whitfield County, GA
http://www.whitfieldcountyga.com/freeance/Client/PublicAccess1/index.html?appconfig=1
Use the icons on left, & select Lat,Long Icon – insert coordinates, then use
Identify Features Icon on property 12-336-08-112 to get all of the above
details. Does this feel like an invasion of privacy? sage1 said... I find it
interesting as to why a person that lives in Whitfield county GA (And apparently
living in SIN with Mr. Espy? I am SHOCKED…SHOCKED I say!...hahaha...just had to
throw that out there!) and buys her electricity from Georgia Power and not TVA
has such a vile hatred of TVA and the people that work there. I wonder if her
salary is the same as a man in her position? Curious minds want to know…..How
said... How do you afford a 189,000 house bought in Jul 2003 on a papers
salary? We demand to know! Sorry that the value of your house has been going
down. I hope Jimmy Espy isn't the same Jimmy Espy who has been charged with 8
different things in Chattanooga. Including and not limited to DUI, Assault(DOM),
and Possession of drug paraphernalia.
http://cjusgeneralsessions.hamiltontn.gov/appfolder/GS_Web_Calendar.aspx
(Search for Jimmy Espy)
Gerbiotch said...
GerberSux said... I'd like to thank ChrisTN for attempting to set the record
straight on Ms. Gerber's misleading statement regarding the recency of TVA's
receipt of appropriated funds from Congress. While she accurately states that
appropriated funds from the U.S. Government "initially funded the construction
of TVA dams," she needs to be a touch careful with her verbiage -- the inclusion
of the words "Power Plants" in that statement is misleading, whether
deliberately or due to ignorance. The only "Power Plants" funded by
appropriations were those hydraulic production generators at the dam sites,
which were completed by the mid-50's. All coal-fired, gas and oil-fired, and
nuclear plants were funded through the sale of debt. And in fact, TVA has been
repaying the U.S. Government for the initial appropriations that were received
for the construction of dams and the initial infrastructure in the amount of
around $20 million per year (including interest charges) since at least the time
that TVA's power program became self funded. TVA continued to receive federal
appropriations from the US government to maintain recreational sites and provide
flood control and other activities (small funding) through 1999, and since that
time has provided all these public services through power revenues as well. So
Ms. Gerber's argument that she needs to publish every TVA employee's salary
because TVA "was funded by taxpayers...[u]ntil two decades ago" is based on
half-truths and misstatements... not the hallmark of a professional journalist.
However, since Ms. Gerber seems to believe that all publicly-available
information should be spotlighted for ease of consumption by all the readers of
the Times Free Press, here's a nugget of publicly available information that may
be of great interest to those who find this article interesting: according to
publicly available information from Whitfield County, Ms. Gerber owns a home at
2306 Shannondale Lane, Dalton, GA 30720, which the tax records indicate she
purchased along with a Mr. Jimmy Espy. I'd encourage all those with more time on
their hands than I have to consider posting other publicly available information
about Ms. Gerber on the site. It's a topic of great interest to those of us who
are deeply interested in her self-serving hateful little decision related to
individual's publicly available yet personal information!!!
scout29c said...
The publication of TVA salaries proved one rumor that has been floating
around TVA for some time. To make money at TVA, you need to either go into
management or move around. Management has a higher salary than workers – no
news there, that’s to be expected. It’s the salaries of those employees that
move around compared to those that stay in one place that proves the rumor.
You can’t tell that just by looking at the TimesFreePress’s list but if you
work at TVA, it’s obvious. Simple put: it doesn’t pay to become an expert in
any process or task. The money is in moving around or go into management. The
news to TVA employees from TFP’s list of salaries: Don’t waste your time
becoming an expert or knowledgeable about any task at TVA, move around or go
into management.
Two people start work at TVA. One moves around to a different position every
three years – but doesn’t go into management – just moves to different jobs at
the same level. The other stays at the same job and become an expert. At the
end of ten years the one that moved around will make more than the expert. It’s
in the salaries listing the TFP was so kind to publish. You can be sure all the
ones that have become experts in their field see it, feel really stupid and
financially unappreciated.
Fedup6789 said...
Why did you leave so many off the list? If it is supposed to be all TVA
employees, it should be ALL employees. It seems your reporting isn't complete or
accurate. Seems like shady reporting to me. Have any integrity?
Reardon said...
What would be interesting to know is how the pay scale compares to comparable
private sector positions.
...Because we all know the underlying belief is that TVA employees are
grossly overpaid relative to their workload. So TFP staffers step up and put your
salaries in print.
write2form said...
The emphasis appears to be on looking up individual names and salaries. If
the TFP were really interested in providing information that could be useful,
the emphasis should be on Job Title and Company for the search dropdowns.
People should be looking for a certain job category at a certain company. Why
does the viewer need a name listed anyway? It seems the TFP has a list of names
for nosey busy bodies to invade individual’s privacy, instead of making this an
informative guide. The righ2know has made lots of customers for LifeLock.com from TVA.
Take the Names off or make them less important by only
listing the first name? Why are you invading the privacy of thousands of
people? Do you think this makes people subscribe to the TFP? Are you
interesting in making the TFP a competitor to the National Enquirer or the
Star?
Make this usable for the job searchers and query by job titles, and forget
the names. There are so many names, it is not possible to figure out any
pattern based on gender status, race, creed or whatever smokescreen that you
purport. What people want to know are job titles and the associated
salaries.TFP now has a name search for looking up individuals, the TFP is just interested
Make this usable for the job searchers and query by job titles, and forget
the names. There are so many names, it is not possible to figure out any
pattern based on gender status, race, creed or whatever smokescreen that you
purport. What people want to know are job titles and the associated
salaries.