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  Regional press news - this story published 03 December 2008

Up to 40 editorial jobs to go at Glasgow titles

by holdthefrontpage staff
More than 200 journalists at Newsquest's Glasgow titles have been given redundancy notices and told to re-apply for jobs in a new merged newsroom.

The shake-up at The Herald, Evening Times and Sunday Herald is expected to result in around 30-40 fewer jobs.

The bombshell announcement came on new editor-in-chief Donald Martin's first day in the job after his appointment yesterday.

Announcing the changes, Newsquest Glasgow managing director Tim Blott said they had been made "more urgent" by proposed industrial action by NUJ members at the titles.

He said: "We are creating an efficient operation fit for the 21st century which will provide even more compelling and unique content for readers of all three titles and our web sites.

"We are committed to producing vibrant and relevant newspapers and web sites and see a bright future for The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times and their digital versions.

"A strong indigenous press is vital for diversity of opinion and democracy in Scotland.

"Regrettable industrial action this week by members of the National Union of Journalists at the titles makes the need for radical change even more urgent as we work to secure the future of the business and as many jobs as possible."

The NUJ had been due to start a work to rule this week, although this was suspended pending a meeting with Mr Blott which was due to take place this afternoon.

Jim McNally, the union's assisant Scottish organiser, said it planned to issue a statement following the conclusion of this afternoon's talks.

In a statement, the company said that it plans to "merge certain newspaper staffs under new editor-in-chief Donald Martin to increase efficiency and make full use of state-of-the-art news production technology now being rolled out".

"As part of the transformation of the business, journalists on all three titles are being made redundant and invited to re-apply for jobs in the new structure."


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the strategist (04/12/2008 13:05)
What everyone needs to do is just have an industry-wide stand-off where no-one applies for any of those jobs. That would force the company to make better offers to bring people back. They know times are tough, they know they can screw with your wages and conditions by bullying everyone with redundancy. Maybe, if they want to fire everyone, they should think about what might happen if no-one returns. Thats how you loose your job as the editor in chief.. know what I mean?


now into PR (04/12/2008 13:12)
Poor NUJ, fighting for people on rubbish wages... poor journalists, hardly able to afford a roof over their heads, it took me nearly 19 years to see sense...papers are dying allowing PR to fill the gaps... very sad indeed....


Silky (05/12/2008 05:16)
I can understand the pressure of the journalist and editors up there in glasgow but when they Close the Bolton Wingates Plant and shift all most of the work upto glasgow they are all including production staff are going to be under increasing pressure to ensure that the Newsqueat objectives are achieved. The consultation to close Wingates Bolton began On wednesday and all employees were told to empty lockers by the 20 Dec. Merry Xmas wingates


lister (05/12/2008 12:49)
Poor "now into PR". What happens when all the papers close and all you PR folk have an extremely limited market to sell your badly-written trash? Durrrr . . .


Molly Mockford (09/12/2008 19:20)
To run a newspaper, one needs journalists. If all Newsquest want to do is to print press releases, they're not in journalism - they're in advertising.


Brian Campbell (09/12/2008 21:40)
Surely,with the "cutting edge" technical know how, it should be possible to get a computer to do the job of the editor-in-chief.


B (22/12/2008 21:11)
First off, as someone who has struggled to find a meaningful job after college, let alone a staff job, I really doubt they would find any difficulty in replacing those that refused to re-apply. I wish I could say I'd be above sneaking someone's job like that and I'm sure the quality of journalism all round would suffer, but to be honest I'm kind of sick with dead end boring jobs, and. I'd be surprised if I'm alone in that. Secondly, strategist I'm afraid i mistakenly hit the make a complaint link assuming it was a comment link, I do apologise.

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