A statement jointly issued by Mark Dodson, CEO of MEN Media, and three of the company’s NUJ FoCs, suggests a truce has been reached in the increasingly acrimonious battle over the restructuring of MEN Media's newspapers in the North West.
In addition to Dodson, the statement was signed by the MEN’s FoC Judy Gordon, Joe Slade, weeklies FoC North and Bethan Dorsett, weeklies FoC South.
MEN Media announced in March its intention to make 150 redundancies and close all of the local editorial offices serving its portfolio of 23 weekly newspapers. Of the 150 staff cuts, approximately half involved journalists.
Mark Dodson
The joint statement is as follows.
The Company has agreed to the introduction of a new pay grade for journalists previously working solely on weekly titles. This new grade will take effect in 2010.
The NUJ has declared its recent ballots for industrial action to be null and void.
Unfortunately, 11 journalists from the MEN will be made redundant by compulsory means. This is a reduction of 5 from earlier proposals. The total number of editorial redundancies across MEN Media is 70. These redundancies will take place later this year.
Talks will start immediately on a new house agreement to encompass all three NUJ chapels. The agreement means that all MEN Media journalists will be based in Scott Place, Manchester by early October 2009.
Both MEN Media Limited and the NUJ record their intention to work together to ensure the editorial re-structure is successful and that this agreement, reached after a great deal of negotiation, should become a landmark in their future relationship.
They also record their commitment to the newspapers they produce and the communities, readers and advertisers they serve.
Mark Dodson, MEN Media and Judy Gordon, Bethan Dorsett and Joe Slade/NUJ
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