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Regional publisher puts holiday cottage up for sale

A regional publisher which owns holiday homes for its staff to use has put one of them up for sale for £180,000.

The Midland News Association, which publishes the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, is selling the three-bedroomed property in Porthmadog, North Wales.

It is understood the property, which overlooks the harbour, is one of two holiday homes owned by the publisher in the town for use by its staff.

The house is being advertised on Rightmove and is described as “an excellent, independent two storey residential unit, occupying a much favoured location on a popular harbour side development of leisure homes in the town of Porthmadog and enjoying far reaching panoramic views over the Dwyryd Estuary and harbour towards the Merioneth mountains.”

An MNA spokesman said: “The property in question is available for purchase. All enquiries should be directed to the estate agent Tom Parry & Co.”

The property advert can be viewed here.

The sale of the property comes after MNA scrapped its meal allowances for staff members, in a move which has been criticised by the National Union of Journalists.

It is understood around a quarter of staff at the publisher, including editorial, have been affected by the decision to axe the payments, which covered meal allowances for those on early shifts or night jobs.

NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser Chris Morley said: “People are very angry about it, not least because they work very long and intensive hours and while the meal allowances were not that large in financial terms on a day-to-day basis, they were seen as a small gesture to the large number of unsocial hours they work.

“They withdrew them under threat of dismissal. They said if they didn’t agree to sign away their rights, they would be dismissed and re-engaged on new contracts.

A consultation with staff about the meal allowances was held in the summer and the move to scrap them has now gone ahead.

The NUJ does not have recognition at the MNA but Chris said he is trying to secure talks about the long hours discovered there.

He said: “I did say I wanted to have a discussion with the company about the horrendous hours we have discovered. It is totally unsustainable.

“It is a safety issue because people are becoming exhausted and highly stressed due to the intensive demands placed on them. It is a massive problem.”

An MNA spokesman said: “Individual consultation on the meal allowances was completed in August. All the employees involved have agreed to the change.”

10 comments

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  • October 2, 2013 at 9:31 am
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    Grow up Chris the MNA is a comparative breeze, they have not even started a subbing hob yet.

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  • October 2, 2013 at 10:36 am
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    Meal allowances and holiday cottages! Miracle they’ve had them so long….. soon they won’t be paid to do reviews like they’ve just started at Bristol Post….

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  • October 2, 2013 at 10:50 am
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    Surprised that the Welsh place hadn’t gone previously, given that the MNA has already flogged off all its non-core assets, including the training centre, the sports + social club and its grounds.
    Pity they didn’t just sell the ancient Queen St offices and multi-storey car park in the late 90s, when they were advised to do so, and move out towards the M54, with just a satellite office in the centre.
    Is the holiday home in Tenerife still on the books though?

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  • October 2, 2013 at 10:59 am
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    E&S staff have always enjoyed good perks thanks to MNA being owned by a family with some philanthropic tendencies.

    They certainly expect you to work for it though.

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  • October 2, 2013 at 12:05 pm
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    Can understand them selling off the holiday home.
    But scrapping meal allowances for their staff just looks petty and mean-spirited.

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  • October 2, 2013 at 3:48 pm
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    It would make better sense selling their businesses in the Channel Islands and saving themselves far more than £180k in interest payments and air miles.

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  • October 2, 2013 at 5:48 pm
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    Once again, MNA has decided to put a few quid before its staff. The atmosphere is toxic right now – everyone feels thoroughly cheated, undervalued and disillusioned. Don’t be surprised if we see a flood of people out the door in the near future.

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  • October 2, 2013 at 6:22 pm
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    The other flat is in Tenby – that’ll be next!

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  • October 2, 2013 at 7:37 pm
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    There are plenty of ‘undervalued and disillusioned’ staff these days, but no doubt plenty feel lucky to have their jobs in the current climate. Certainly I would feel that losing the use of a holiday cottage or meal allowance is a small price to pay.

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  • October 3, 2013 at 9:37 am
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    Tbf it looks like the sort of place a serial killer would live in so I’m out.

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