Indianapolis Newspaper Guild vice president Vic Ryckaert posted the following on his Facebook page last night, regarding Thursday's employee meetings at the Star with publisher Michael Kane. The Guild had asked employees -- without a contract for seven months now -- to wear red to the meeting in support of the newspaper union.

Sez Vic:

"Red Thursday update: We entered en mass, wearing red or lanyards. I didn't count and I was at the front, so I can't say exactly how many. I would guess about 50.

We filled part of the front section. Way outnumbered by non-guild employees. We asked most of the questions.

Michael Kane talked about the economy and how The Star is struggling. He gave a lot of specific numbers about how far the paper is falling short of projections and last year's earnings. He asked us not to share those numbers, so I won't.

I'm confident that they saw us and they heard us."

The numbers are depressing.

Before the last round of layoffs -- 37 people gone -- the Guild had, by my count, 106 members. The newsroom -- what Gannett calls its information center, or its profit center -- used to have about 177 employees, again, before the last round of layoffs.

So It must be down to 150 staff members, or less.The good news is that the Guild represents the majority of those people, or so it seems by my calculations. But the bad news is that the Guild lost 14 members in the latest firings last week.

When it comes to a show of solidarity, I wish there had been more individuals in red. Of course, one wishes a lot of things...

A friend questioned the "red" strategy; talk is cheap, he argues. Why not take action? His sentiment was that wearing of red is like poking at a bear. All you do is piss the bear off, and accomplish nothing.

He (and I) would rather see a more proactive stance: call in sick, walk out for a day, whatever.

If any of these numbers are bad, please holler. My sources are the Inkling (on the June 30 contract vote, 97 Guild members voted no, 9 voted yes) and some older emails. I am unsure of the strength of the newsroom. Lat I heard, it was at about 177 employess, down from the 200 or so when I retired in 2006.

Your thoughts?