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Subs put forward plan to keep jobs in city

Journalists angry about centralisation proposals in the East Midlands are putting forward their own alternative plans to management.

Northcliffe Media announced last month it planned to merge its sub-editing teams from the Leicester Mercury, Nottingham Evening Post and Derby Evening Telegraph in Nottingham, with the loss of up to 30 jobs.

Subs in Leicester want the plans scrapped and are set to offer their own proposals to bosses.

National Union of Journalists northern organiser Chris Morley said they were aimed at keeping as many subs as possible in Leicester and could involve home working.

He added: “In this particular case, the issue is about whether there’s a need to put everybody in one physical location and keeping subs where they are.

“Some people would simply be unable to go from Leicester to Nottingham.

“There’s home working but the company is very rigid in saying it wants everyone in Nottingham.”

The Leicester Mercury NUJ chapel, which has formal recognition at the paper, has written to local MPs, councillors, and other opinion formers urging them to protest about the cuts to the company.

The letter said: “At Leicester, latest figures show the company made £20,000 profit for each employee.

“We recognise these are difficult financial times and that cost savings may have to be made – and even that some jobs may be lost.

“However, we have put forward proposals that would make substantial savings without ending a proud 135-year history of producing Leicestershire’s daily paper in Leicester.

“Journalism in Leicestershire is under threat and we are asking for your help to defend it.

“With your support, we hope we can persuade the company to keep the Leicester Mercury’s production local, something we believe the people of Leicestershire and Rutland want. Please back the Leicester Mercury.”

Mercury acting editor Keith Perch had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Comments

hilary (18/03/2009 15:33:10)
For several years now i have been trying to get them to set up a home working subbing system. Apparently (says IT)it’s feasible on Tera, (non-Tera users stop reading here)but ONLY if you have quite brilliant broadband (Virgin’s 50mb sounds about right). Otherwise it’s OK for uploading copy, and maybe even for subbing in the Shell, but Fred is your problem.
Basically I think they just didn’t want to be bothered.