The National Union of Journalists has urged Trinity Mirror Midlands bosses to sell three closure-threatened newspapers instead of shutting them down.
The company announced up to 45 job losses at its newspapers in the West Midlands on Monday including the closure of three weekly titles as part of a cost-saving restructure.
Union members affected by the redundancies held an emergency meeting in Birmingham yesterday afternoon to plan their response to the proposed cuts.
The plans will see the closure of the Sutton Coldfield News, the Chase Post and the Stafford Post, and production and features staff at the company’s Birmingham and Coventry titles merged in a regional hub.
NUJ negotiator Lawrence Shaw said today: “The only beneficiary of these closures is the Northcliffe group, the papers’ rival in this area. It makes no sense to journalists to shut down popular papers that are full of adverts.
“That is why we believe the Trinity Mirror management must have an ulterior motive for the closures, which it is not revealing.
“We will be asking for answers and the chance for these paper to continue to serve their local communities.”
The union will hold an an open debate called Crisis in Midlands Journalism to be held on Thursday 8 December at Birmingham Council House.
Taken together the changes are expected to result in a reduction in editorial headcount of approximately 50 across the Midlands businesses. However the proposals also call for the recruitment of an additional five full-time editorial roles, meaning a total net reduction of 45 jobs.
In a statement on Monday, Trinity Mirror Midlands managing director Steve Anderson-Dixon said the review was vital to ensuring the future of the company’s newspapers and websites in the Midlands.
A formal consultation period with affected staff is now underway.
Those at risk of redundancy include the editor of the Chase Post, Mike Lockley, who recently celebrated 25 years in the role.
In a first-person piece written before the closure announcement, he wrote the words: “A town without a newspaper is a town without a heart.”
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This is very sad news indeed, but the NUJ needs to do more than just ask ‘why have things gone wrong?’ The answer is obvious – the economy has gone from bad to worse this year. That fact can’t be ignored, and it’s worrying the NUJ can’t work that out for itself, but hopefully something constructive will come from this meeting
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Will the bosses ever learn? This does not work. People want their journos on the ground not in an ivory tower in Howden or where ever else boards try to manage production.
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Whilst I think I admire the NUJ’s resolve, really what kind of an impact are they going to have. Full of gusto is good but unless they can coordinate something that is large scale then I can’t see it having any effect. This isn’t a critisism of Chris Morley, I am sure he is full of the best of intentions but can anyone tell me of a successful outcome from NUJ industrial action over the period of the recession?
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I have recently been on work experience at the Cannock Chase Post – I only started in October but I have found it a fantastic paper, a good mix of stories from crime to funny tales and the staff are all so friendly. I don’t want it to close!
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That’ll swing it. I bet they’ll change their minds now
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“. . . production and features staff at the company’s Birmingham and Coventry titles merged in a regional hub.”
This sounds horribly familiar to everyone in Bristol where Mr Anderson-Dixon was formerly MD.
Funny how Bristol is now planning to undo all these proposals
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My understanding is that management tried to sell the titles to all the various groups but no one was interested – especially not after the Kent Messenger debacle to buy the Northcliffe titles and the OFT dinosuars referral. Also why would anyone want to buy these titles – if Trinity Mirror can’t make money out of it why do the NUJ think anyone else can!!! Come on NUJ – you seem to know best – why don’t you buy the titles and show everyone how it should be done!!
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It is ridiculous to suggest Trinity Mirror or Steve Anderson-Dixon are trying to destroy these papers – of course they are not.
Hardly any of the titles in the Midlands portfolio would be able to sustain business on their own – TM have been bankrolling them for several years and, therefore, preventing them from going out of business.
The TM pot of gold is running out which means, and this is the harsh reality, that titles not making a profit MUST now start balancing the books or face extinction.
It is just the same as any other industry and none of us should assume we are owed a living by TM.
Cutting staff by 20% means the books can be balanced and the business can be preserved for the remaining staff.
Those affected are victims of a brutal recession and changing times – not Trinity Mirror.
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Does Tatler work for Trinity Mirror by any chance?!
Mr AD seems to have a penchant for closing down papers wherever he goes – and these are papers which, by the way, are not loss-making at all and in fact are highly successful in their respective towns.
It seems to me these papers – and the hard-working, loyal local journalists who have propped them up for years – have been sacrificed to help fund the bigger papers such as the Birmingham Mail which are floundering in a big, painful way.
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Tatler is wrong.
A local consortium financed by a venture fund could easily run those titles – or any others for that matter – and show a small profit.
The problem is that phrase “small profit” which is of almost no interest to today’s regional publishing giants.
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Tatler may or may not work for Trinity Mirror, but his/her lack of basic understanding of accounting protocols would suggest the former!
TM does not bankroll its local papers: It sets ridiculus targets for contributions to central overheads, costs and profit margins and then wonders why the books don’t balance
Offering the papers for sale on the open market would indeed make perfect sense unless, as has been suggested, another, more insidious agenda, is at play
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Long-timer lurker here but couldn’t let Tatler’s outrageous comments go unchallenged. I don’t know what TM he is referring to, but it’s certainly not the one I know.
Pot of gold? When has there been one of those. The company has been cost-cutting for years and long before the recession kicked in.
Owed a living? None of us are owed a living in this world but we’re entitled when working for a major company to suitable resources/backing in a bid to generate revenue which in turn can make the business successful.
TM bankrolling the Midlands? Gross mismanagement over several years is responsible for the state of the company’s newspapers in that part of the country.
Let’s not pretend that TM are glorious benefactors who have been generous to all who have crossed their path and now have to cut back because of the big, bad recession.
Why don’t we look at the company’s reports and see that the reason why cuts are being made is because of poor management and poor decision-making. Not only are the company £240m in debt, they also need to pay back more than £236m in loans, taken out in 2001 and 2002, by June 2017!
This doesn’t even include an installment of £145m paid back last month! I think we all know where the money’s going and I think many divisions would love to be sold off by TM to someone not planning on bleeding them dry and running them into the ground.
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TM has long led us to believe that it was the weekly titles that made the money for its Midlands Division. The figures, where they exist, simply don’t add up. Is Sly Bailey really trying to tell us that she can’t make a profit from the Sutton Coldfield title – a paper that circulates in one of Europe’s richest towns? Towns like Walsall and Cannock have gone up market during the past 50 years, so we know the ABC1s are there. Why doesn’t TM?
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The last two editions of the Chase Post are reviewed in ‘Dyson at Large on Htfp tomorrow, Wed Nov 23. This blog will include detailed points from top Trinity Mirror sources on the reasons behind the closure.
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