News, opinion and resources for the North West media industry
-
This new initiative on Monday 18 June will allow owners and managers of... -
Several acquisitions in the media planning and buying business last... -
How-Do is trying to keep track of the drama and feature films which are... -
Our latest initiative, How-Do KnowledgeBank has launched on the site....
NUJ promises action in response to substantial redundancies
War is brewing in the North West between the NUJ and media owners, as the union promises protests and industrial action in face of cuts.
Media owners that the NUJ believes are guilty of “grand larceny and reckless cost-cutting” are being promised that they won’t be able to impose the large-scale job cuts they’ve announced without a fight.
Newsquest Bolton and Bury and Trinity Mirror Liverpool in particular have been told to brace themselves for “a wave of protests and industrial action in the coming weeks.”
The threats follow in the wake of weekend meetings held by union representatives to discuss the swingeing cuts that are set to change the face of local newspaper groups in the region.
The NUJ claims that this culling of staff will “damage quality, significantly increase hours and workloads, and threaten the health and welfare of journalists” and is being carried out by groups that are still operating profitably.
Union general secretary Jeremy Dear declared in a statement: “Instead of greater investment in quality online content, more localised coverage and strengthened editorial teams, for years the vast profits of local newspapers have been largely shovelled into shareholders’ pockets, directors’ pay rises and executive pension pots, amidst reckless borrowing and poor investment decisions.
“Now the very people who plunged the industry into this crisis by demanding such excessive profits believe the solution is to axe journalists and freeze pay.
“They were spectacularly wrong in the past and are spectacularly wrong again.”
He continued: “It is a false economy to put the ability to deliver scoops, quality content and strong local coverage in jeopardy.
“Local newspapers in print and online remain viable and profitable businesses. We can’t stand by and see this profiteering destroy our industry.”
The NUJ’s reaction is being co-ordinated across newspaper groups - with Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror and Newsquest leading the way – and will see industrial action against compulsory redundancies, a union wide day of action against job cuts and pay freezes and the creation of community based ‘Stand up for Journalism’.
Political parties and national assemblies will also be lobbied to take action to ‘back the fight to stop job cuts and save local media’.
NUJ figures show that more than 500 journalists posts have been axed or left unfilled at local newspaper groups since June. In addition more than 30 local newspaper offices have been closed responsible for over 50 separate titles.
Did you enjoy this article? Please share it!
Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.
Search
In theory the decision hasn't been made. It's a consultation process (although in my experience they're generally more about the con than the sultation). Even if it had, the NUJ should be making sure everyone is aware thet their local news coverage is being butchered so the public and the business community can make their own decisions.
Good luck to the NUJ in its fight with these rapacious bosses.
Falling advertising revenues leading to job losses? Only up to a point. They cut jobs and pay all the time!
Why does a friend of mine - a graduate - have to put up with a salary of £14,000? Why are newspaper bosses making a return on capital of 28 per cent, compared to a national average of 7 per cent?
For crying out loud...
I remember when newspapers would never print a press release without rewriting it. Now they do it all the time because stafff don't have the time to do their jobs properly. The bosses seem to care absolutely nothing for quality - and iit will surely hit them in the end.
"What can they possibly achieve with this?"
Even if by standing together and fighting back, NUJ members save just one job, or win another few % for some of the lowest paid professionals in the north west - even if they only achieve these very meagre aspirations, they'll have gained more than they would by standing idle and letting the massively profitable Newsquest machine walk all over them on the way to bank more of the profits the journalists earn for them.
That's that is it, Sorry but...? This is just the sort of defeatist, pessimistic, braindead attitude that qualifies you for a job in er let me see...Newsquest management perhaps? Or maybe you're already there...
Basing assumptions on past profit levels is ludicrous. The bottom is falling out of the advertising market. Industrial action by the NUJ can only have one consequence - more job losses.
The northwest is getting off lightly. The Glagow herald group has just announced that all of its hacks must apply for their jobs. The day has finally come when the gravy train has hit the buffers.
What can they possibly achieve with this?
The decision, as bad as it is, has been made and all the badly drawn placards in the world aren't going to change that.
The industry is in a crisis. Thats that.