A regional publisher has denied trade union claims that all 96 staff affected by its print plant’s closure are set to lose their jobs.
Last month Archant revealed plans to shut its print works at Thorpe, in Norfolk, with News UK subsidiary Newsprinters producing the company’s titles at its plant in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire from November.
At the time the move was announced, the company said the “majority” of jobs based at Thorpe, including drivers, will be transferred to Newsprinters, Menzies or Smiths News, although it envisaged there may be some redundancies.
However Unite has accused the company of “misleading” customers over the number of jobs which will be lost as a result and says only the roles, not the workforce, will transfer.
The comments came as the union launched a campaign aimed at preserving the jobs under threat.
Archant has repeatedly declined to reveal exactly how many jobs are at risk when approached by HTFP, although the company says it is standing by its original statement on the matter.
An internal Archant announcement, seen by HTFP last month, stated: “In line with employment law, all 96 staff will transfer from Archant to Newsprinters/Menzies/Smiths News around the second week of November when the Thorpe site ceases production.
“A consultation process is now beginning and staff have been informed that there may be redundancies.”
A public statement, released by the company at the time, added: “As a consequence of the review the Thorpe print centre will cease production with its newspaper printing transferring to third party suppliers, namely Newsprinters (Broxbourne).
“In conjunction with this the delivery of Archant’s Norfolk and Suffolk newspaper titles, currently managed internally, will also be outsourced to the wholesale operations Menzies Distribution and Smiths News. The majority of the current jobs at Thorpe will transfer to one of the named third party suppliers.”
Unite regional officer Mark Walker told HTFP: “We understand that 96 jobs at the Thorpe print centre are at risk of redundancy and only the work is transferring to News Print, not the workforce.
“We believe the initial announcement by Archant, in relation to the transfer of work, was misleading and we are hoping to mobilise public opinion (Archant’s customers) in a campaign to save these jobs and support the local economy.”
“What is happening to the Archant print operation is another nail in the coffin for industries traditionally associated with Norwich and comes hard on the heels of the closure of Colman’s and Britvic.
“There have been an increasing number of unacceptable job losses recently in the industrial and manufacturing sectors that is making the Norfolk economy even more dependent on tourism, agriculture and services.
“There is real disappointment amongst a loyal workforce at Archant that the printing of local newspaper titles will be carried out over 100 miles away in Hertfordshire – the Eastern Daily Press has been printed in Norwich since the 1870s.
“There is real anger that the Archant management appears to have misled customers to believe that the workers’ employment would transfer with the work.
“This is a real slap in the face for the dedicated workforce – many of whom have been with the company for over 20 years. We are hoping to mobilise public opinion in a campaign to save these jobs and ensure that there is a vibrant ‘mixed’ economy for Norfolk in the years ahead.”
Archant declined to comment on the union’s claims when approached by HTFP but a spokesperson said the company is standing by its original statement.
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Being realistic not one of the floor staff are going to transfer and do a 230 mile round trip everyday are they. Under the remit of TUPE they may transfer over but they are going to get made redundent at that point as it’s not a reasonable distance to travel. I’m also not sure how drivers will transfer to Smiths as the drivers there are self employed.
In theory Archant won’t be making anyone redundant but it doesn’t mean the staff won’t be in that situation in the end. Moving the responsibility side ways to sound like a caring employer is a pretty low move but nothing I’ve not seen many times in this industry.
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Let’s face it whatever happens Archant will not reverse their decision.
With their shocking annual report published last week showing huge failings across all sectors , it’s now all about cutting costs and making cost savings and this represents a big one.I notice there’s no mention of the agency or contracted staff who will also be affected by the Thorpe closure,together with the full time staff I would estimate we are looking at around 150 potential job losses.
As for the misleading tactic of claiming the workers’ roles and employment would transfer with the work,in reality how many Norwich/ Norfolk based staff will be prepared to transfer and up sticks to Hertfordshire?
None
There is also much talk on social media about the company’s Norfolk and Suffolk Advertiser coastal free papers being reduced in numbers or stopped altogether, the likely outcome of the print centre closure will be print being gradually phased out in favour of becoming a digital only operation,again under the radar and without any official line from Archant, leaving the public to speculate and with some businesses withdrawing advertising spends due to the uncertainty around distribution and copy numbers.
It’s just a shame that in all this Archant have shown so little regard for the loyal print centre staff who have been unceremoniously dumped and the long standing customers, albeit a dwindling number, who have been badly misled.
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This wasn’t an overnight decision so they’ll have covered all their bases in order to cut costs and come out smelling of roses.
Having dropped the axe, regardless of how it will affect people’s livelihoods or that they’ll be seen as another Norfolk company pulling out of Norwich ,there’s no way they’ll even consider doing a U-turn.
Staff should take a leaf out of their book and think only of themselves as things won’t get an better,and with print being put on the back burner ready to be dropped, more job losses are likely to follow.
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Too little too late, the decision has already been made and more likely than not the money saved will have already been apportioned so Archant won’t be reversing this decision.
It’s all about managing decline and migrating print to digital and this is just another step along the path to that aim, however the way it’s been handled and announced is a big PR disaster which is already causing ill feeling among the Norwich public and local groups.
A shocking way to go about downsizing a business but not untypical
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