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New strike threat at Birmingham titles

Journalists at Trinity Mirror’s titles in Birmingham are threatening a pre-Christmas strike unless the company rules out compulsory redundancies.

Trinity-owned BPM Media is currently looking to cut 40 editorial posts across its daily and weekly titles.

National Union of Journalists’ members at the papers held a ballot on strike action which resulted in a 75pc majority in favour, of those who took part in the vote.

Today the union said it will hold strike action in the next three weeks unless the threat of compulsory redundancies is lifted – but the company has claimed the union lacks a convincing mandate.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: “Of the total number of 96 NUJ members balloted in Birmingham, only 41 of them voted in support of this action.

“This means that only 43pc of NUJ members – and only 34pc of total BPM Media editorial staff – are in favour of a strike, hardly a convincing mandate.”

Northern regional organiser Chris Morley said: “It is clear that the chapel are in no mood to accept colleagues being thrown out of work into the worst recession in living memory – and for them to absorb the work on their already overburdened shoulders.

“Our members believe the situation can be resolved but not through unrealistic timetables currently being pushed by managers. If they continue along these lines, they will quickly find the chapel will bring its collective strength to bear to defend members.”

Comments

Rob (25/11/2009 15:27:58)
“hardly a convincing mandate” – I haven’t heard Trinity Mirror bemoaning the lack of a convincing mandate for successive governments over the past 40 years.
If that’s the system in place, what more can the union do?

stewart perkins (26/11/2009 10:57:45)
This management, like rich bankers, never seem to learn. The NUJ only shelved industrial action earlier on when they had what they thought was a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. This sort of behaviour by Trinity is hardly a convincing mandate to manage.

Chris Youett (26/11/2009 10:58:24)
Post & Mail journalists are right to fight back against these completely unncessary redundancies. There is a direct relationship between staffing levels on newspapers and their circulations. If Trinity Mirror goes through with its plan, then it will wipe another 10,000 off the circulation of the Evening Mail. That paper ought to be selling 250,000 copies a night, not 50K.

Donald (27/11/2009 15:22:52)
Oh, it’s Chris and his magic numbers again. There might be some truth in what he says, but he’s forgetting shifting demographics, changing reader habits, the role of the web etc etc. It’s not just down to staff cuts. Even some of the best staffed newspapers in the the country are suffering.