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Journalists face 130 mile move or redundancy in publisher’s plan

Up to eight production journalists face having to relocate more than 130 miles away or take redundancy as part of a regional publisher’s cost-cutting measures.

According to the National Union of Journalists, Newsquest is set to move the roles on its South London weeklies to the company’s production hubs in Newport and Weymouth, which both lie more than 130 miles from the capital.

It is understood redundancy would be available for those who do not want to move to Dorset or Wales.

The announcement comes after the NUJ’s Newsquest South London chapel went on strike during the summer, pictured below, over pay and plans to cut jobs.

NUJ-strike

The industrial action lasted 11 days before an agreement was reached between Newsquest and the union to pay trainee reporters the London Living Wage.

Six staff still left the titles – which includes the eight-edition South London Guardian series, the Surrey Comet, Elmbridge Comet and the Richmond & Twickenham Times – but the number of roles lost was understood to be less than the 14 originally proposed.

A statement from the South London chapel, said: “We regret Newsquest South London’s continued attack on experienced journalists and the constant erosion of what separates professional newsrooms from keen amateur blogs.

“These cuts were known in advance and some of the sub-editing team were allowed to take voluntary redundancy as part of that. This came into effect in July of this year.

“We question Newsquest’s priorities and believe this plan to be counter-productive. We are concerned about the detrimental effect this announcement will have on the newsroom, particularly the increase in workload for the editorial staff, and the drop in quality the loss of the sub-editing team will inevitably lead to.

“The loss in experience from the newsroom is immeasurable – many of the sub-editing team have many years of experience behind them and a wealth of knowledge about the areas we serve.

“We will now work closely with our members to ensure the best possible outcome for those involved.”

According to the NUJ Gary Kendall, managing director Newsquest South, said redundancy would be available for those who do not want to move to Dorset or Wales.

The transfer will take place in January and February. He said the move was to “improve operational efficiency within the business and save costs”.

The centralisation of Newsquest’s production operation has seen journalists from its newspapers in several UK regions faced with either moving to the hubs or taking redundancy in recent years.

The company has been asked for a comment by HTFP on the issue.

26 comments

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  • November 10, 2015 at 6:30 am
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    I’m very interested to hear what the company has to say in response to HTFP’s request for a comment and will wait patiently for its well-weighed and insightful words. In the meantime, best of luck to all those who will be losing their jobs, a painful time, but at least you will be out of what is now an industry in terminal decline.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 8:39 am
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    130 mile trip or redundancy….lets hope the redundancy package is generous.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 9:10 am
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    “The company has been asked for a comment by HTFP on the issue.”
    I hope nobody at HTFP is holding their breath.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 9:27 am
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    I understood that the Weymouth and Newport hubs worked completely separately from each other, each effectively contracting out their services to other NQ centres.

    Does the fact subs are being given the option of going to either mean that they’re now working as one – or is South London subbing moving to just one centre, but redundancy law means the subs have got to be offered anything under the wider NQ umbrella?

    Sorry for the geeky question, and let’s face it, come the JP/NQ merger, it’ll be academic anyway . . .

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  • November 10, 2015 at 10:09 am
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    Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
    Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
    Like a journalist at Newsquest or Trinity Mirror, too
    You never know the minute when redundancy is due
    Unless of course it is the time when Christmas does draw near
    Then you scribes and scribblers have even more to fear.

    With a apologies to:Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand and Alan Bergman

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  • November 10, 2015 at 10:17 am
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    Baffled that in 2015 any publisher thinks staff have to be sitting in the same room to work.
    It was very easy (in terms of technology, if not corporate mindset) to set up a virtual subbing network allowing folk to work from home a decade ago.
    Now, if Newsquest had the will, their web wizards could probably set up such a system in the time it has taken me to pen this.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 10:20 am
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    Given that this is now a fait accompli and that just about everything that can be said about the crass behaviour of NQ has been said… if I were a youngish sub with few ties, currently working on the South London weeklies, paying London living prices & breathing in London dirt, I’d snatch their hands off for a move to beautiful Weymouth. Especially if, by a miracle, I happened to own the London home I was living in. Newport even better, price wise. But then, I hate London (I have worked and lived there). I daresay that the people now facing this decision are Londoners with families etc. Good luck, guys…

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  • November 10, 2015 at 10:43 am
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    As I understand it, Newport and Weymouth work in parallel on most titles?

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  • November 10, 2015 at 11:23 am
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    I know HTFP must be busy but I would appreciate it if you could put up Newsquest’s response to your request for a comment, as I have been waiting five hours now. I appreciate that it must be a subtle and well-argued piece of work, profound, moving and illuminating in equal measure, and demanding close attention from experienced subs, but I’m on deadline. Thanks.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 11:43 am
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    The culling of subs is symptomatic of a wider issue in society. The idear of doing things well was long ago replaced by the concept of doing things cheap.

    This applies to pretty much every industry, from the banker looking to make a quick buck at the expense of an entire economy, to a care home that hires 18-year-olds on minimum wage to look after elderly patients and then pretends to be surprised when they turn out to be idiots.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 1:38 pm
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    Dear all

    For info, here’s how it works at JP with no subs.
    Reporter fills shape.
    Newsdesk checks.
    Page read.
    Page goes.
    Bingo.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 3:00 pm
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    If you want to keep your job (and it’s a big if, as you’re probably just prolonging the inevitable) why not move to the south coast? Even with a pay cut your cost of living will plummet (Weymouth’s cheap, at least for Dorset) and – bonus – you won’t have to live in London, which is overrated, expensive and a downright dump (at least it must be on what you can afford on NQ pay). And don’t give me the “tired of London” speech. Bigger house, fresh sea air, sailing, fishing, swimming, surfing, what more could you want? I’d leave the capital like a shot! And when you do eventually get canned (which you will) it’s far better to be jobless on a beach than smelly old London!

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  • November 10, 2015 at 3:56 pm
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    Or come to South Wales. National parks, mountains, AONBs, walking, cycling, golf, fishing, farmers markets, food festivals,average price for a three-bed semi £150k.
    And direct routes by road and rail to London (two hours by train) if you really miss it.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 4:34 pm
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    Agree totally with Jessie.
    I left London behind decades ago and moved to the South West. It was the best move of my life.
    Samuel Johnson’s ‘tired of London’ rubbish was the product of his own laziness. The fact is that he wouldn’t get off his fat, scrofulous backside to go anywhere else.
    Dorset, with its lovely market towns and beautiful coastline, is twenty times better in every respect than some London suburban hell-hole.
    Now let’s see, Sherborne or Streatham? Shaftesbury or Neasden?
    Wimborne or Walthamstow? Dorchester or Balham?
    Doesn’t take a lot of working out, does it?
    Go for it, guys and gals. The move will be a life-changer – for the better.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 6:19 pm
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    Question is: Would you really like surfing? Try it before moving. These places mentioned are okay if enjoy natural scenery etc and a rain sodden climate. You can get a three bedroomed detached bungalow in Torquay for £160,000, or one in Bridlington (Flamborough Head, sandy beaches, North Yorks National Park, good pubs, history) for £150,000.
    Samuel Johnson was interested in people and ideas, he couldn’t have lived anywhere else but London. If he’d been alive a bit later I bet he would have been a journalist.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 7:10 pm
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    I’ve not noticed any mention of a relocation package. The few lucky enough to own their own homes will face removal costs, estate agents fees, legal fees etc.
    If it was one of the bean-counters being relocated, they would be feather-bedded from the costs of the process.
    Journalists? Bit of straw in the gutter.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 9:48 am
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    “National parks, mountains, AONBs, walking, cycling, golf, fishing, farmers markets, food festivals…”

    Not the first things that spring to mind when most people think of Newport, Ho-hum, but I laud your efforts to sell it as a destination.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 11:24 am
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    Jupiter is obviously engaged in an exercise in self-justification.
    He seems to suggest people and ideas exist only in London.
    What utter nonsense!

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  • November 11, 2015 at 12:51 pm
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    It’s all very well saying move to Newport or Weymouth, but how long will those hubs last? Newsquest staff were expected to move their lives and families four years ago with the creation of the various regional hubs.

    Now they are being offered a choice between a new job hundreds of miles away for less money or a redundancy slip.

    Surely it must only be a matter of time before Newsquest decides that even the copy editors are redundant because, of course, reporters are right first time in everything they write and if they’ve written the story, the why not the headline too. And I’m sure the cleaner wouldn’t mind glancing at the finished pages as she pulls the vacuum cleaner around the office at the end of the day.

    If any of the affected staff are able, I would suggest they take the redundancy and retrain for a career with a future and prospects.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 12:56 pm
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    Luka (Nov 10; 1.38pm) – It’s similar at NQ except after ‘Bingo’ you have to add:
    Public sees story
    Realises it’s badly-written rubbish
    Stops buying paper
    Paper loses money
    NQ sacks someone else, then it’s
    Trainee reporter fills shape… and so the cycle begins again. Continue until shutdown.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 1:00 pm
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    Moving home and family may suit some, but how safe are the jobs? What happens if, 2 or 3 years down the line, subs are scrapped completely?

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  • November 11, 2015 at 4:43 pm
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    Rent house out in London for small fortune to gullible metropolitan, rent massive country pile to live in in Dorset on proceeds, live in Dorset for three years, move back to London if/when it all goes belly up.
    Seems like a splendid idea to me.

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  • November 13, 2015 at 9:13 am
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    >Not the first things that spring to mind when most people think of Newport

    No, the £90m newly opened city centre shopping centre is the main one at the moment.

    Will the jobs last? Who knows? But regional journalism has always had a high turnover of people who work somewhere a couple of years somewhere, then move on. And good luck finding a ‘job for life’ in anything these days.
    Might help if some people on HTFP didn’t blame Newport subs for all the ills in the industry. And repeat misinformation that deters applicants.

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  • November 13, 2015 at 11:53 am
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    Soon Newsquest will just have a national subbing centre in a Hull factory unit, fitted with computers and staffed only by two Ken Dodd lookalikes on happy pills. Seriously though, they really do deserve the Worst Employer of the Year Award. Zero for handling employee relations. I’m glad I worked in happier times.

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  • November 16, 2015 at 4:05 pm
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    Take the redundancy package. If you work for scroogequest and you’re not a manager/director or ad rep then your future is bleak. Just take the money and run. I did and it was the best decision of my life…

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