The National Union of Journalists has hit out at a newspaper publisher for allegedly making journalists unavoidably absent from work as a result of the Icelandic volcano take the time as holiday or unpaid leave.

The union says it was sent a copy of an internal memo circulated by Johnston Press’s human resources department last week.

It read: “Given the current airline situation it has been agreed that any staff who cannot attend work due to this should be advised that they must take holiday or unpaid leave to cover days for which they are absent.

“If any unpaid leave is granted please can you ensure that I am made aware so that the correct deductions can be made through payroll.

The memo went on: “Any staff who contact the HR dept re this will be advised as such and I would ask that you cascade this message to your management teams as soon as possible to ensure a consistent approach.”

The union’s general secretary Jeremy Dear has condemned the move as an “attack” on journalists.

“In common with so many other victims of the shutdown of European air services, journalists want to get back to work at the end of their holidays,” he said.

“But that’s not good enough for the Johnston Press group, apparently. Personnel departments in the group are now insisting on treating unavoidable absence due to the volcano as holidays or unpaid leave.

Mr Dear added: “This mean-spirited action by the group is hardly designed to win support from employees.”

Johnston Press has refused to comment on the union’s claims and it is not clear whether other newspaper publishers are adopting a similar stance.

Comments

Jerry (26/04/2010 09:09:00)
I don’t think this is confined to journalism – or mean spirited. I bet it’s down to the individual manager’s discretion too, so most people will get through without using their leave.

Observer (26/04/2010 09:36:36)
JP really does need a decent PR company. It seems to stumble from one cock-up to the next. Oh dear.

JP staffer (26/04/2010 09:44:46)
Nothing surprises me about JP any more

Under the Volcano (26/04/2010 09:54:47)
It’s not the journalists’ fault that they have been caught up in a volcanic eruption, for pete’s sake.
Words fail me.

Hacked off hack (26/04/2010 10:32:22)
And yet, had John Fry or any of the other overpaid and generally useless numpties in management been stranded somewhere, they’d probably get away with it.
JP covering itself in glory once again.

gb (26/04/2010 10:34:35)
And it’s not any business’ fault either – and that includes JP and all other publishers. I don’t understand why the knee-jerk reaction is that companies should always pay?

Paul (26/04/2010 11:02:06)
gb, I agree. I don’t see what JP have done wrong.

Wolfie (26/04/2010 11:12:02)
Typical, sting em in the pocket when the chances are they are already out of pocket trying to get back. JP refused to comment. Never do, do they?

Golam Murtaza (26/04/2010 11:13:28)
The manager who decided already poorly paid employees should be penalised because of a volcano going off should be sacked. Instantly.

Volcanic cash (26/04/2010 11:18:15)
It’s the same situation as people stuck in the snow in January. If you aren’t working, you don’t get paid. Tough luck. According to employment law JP have done nothing wrong. Much as it pains me to say it.

JP’s Champagne Tester (26/04/2010 11:40:30)
As a Johnston Press employee let me just say that if they ordered all reporters to take on subbing responsibilities (with no training) for no extra pay, work unmanageable hours to the point of collapsing, slash the pension scheme and make any subs left travel 100 odd miles to get to work I would not be shocked…oh wait – that’s what this caring company has already done!

hilary (26/04/2010 12:38:16)
Hope they don’t make this ruling apply to all the people who have either been filing copy from airports or train stations, or who will be expected to write great long stories about their ordeal as soon as they get home. Nothing like a few local staff caught up in an international disaster to fill pages…

Ex-JP editor (26/04/2010 14:32:21)
Editors have not had the authority to manage their own staff for years. They HAVE to follow HR and JP rules and are not allowed to use their own discretion in such cases

outofit (26/04/2010 15:59:02)
What next? How can people be punished for an act of nature such as the volcano?
I was one of thousands of people stranded in the US for a week due to the ash cloud and airports closure and I can say with all honesty there was absolutely no way of getting home other than by sea – which would take almost as long anyway!
Witne everything going on as it is at JP you’d think that they’d let this one go. No, of course not. It’s JP. They want their pound pof flesh, their pint of blood.
Such crass ignorance of the human psyche shows just why JP finds itself in such a mess.
Everyone from managing director up should be fklown to a desert island and left there!
I’d gladly fly the plane.

WhenIWasALad… (27/04/2010 16:34:27)
Every journo who filed ‘volcano’ copy from abroad should now bill JP if it was used