The Hazards of Outsourcing at the Newspaper

I was astounded by the response from my colleagues regarding the thief’s at the Los Angeles Times Olympic Facility; I had no clue so many lockers were being vandalized and valuables taken while the workers were manning the printing presses.

Bill Conover told me his ipod was removed from his locker, John Rickett had $300.00 cash taken from him, Dennis Rios lost his change jar, and the list could go on for many more lines.

I have discovered all the lockers that have been broken into have one common denominator, the lockers were protected with a Master combination lock. Apparently the locks can be disabled with a sharp blow from a heavy object, my Master lock now opens with a strong downward tug, rendering the lock obsolete.

Ed Santos, Bill Conover, and Craig Steer have shown me how their Master locks open with a little tug, as mine does, making our locks nothing more than adornments hanging from our lockers.

The Los Angeles Times Grapevine tells me management is considering outsourcing our security guards again. I say again, because we tried this four or five years ago, and employees lost car stereos, their lunches, and anything that was not bolted down. I’m not implying it was the outside contractor’s, but the thief’s stopped when Los Angeles Times security was brought back to Olympic.