The three papers in Glasgow invited all the workers to reapply for their jobs, if they agreed to new terms and conditions, the Guardian newspaper says. The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times are all owned by Gannett's UK division, Newsquest.
A reader tells me in an e-mail that all three papers are still making "industry-leading profits,'' even in the economic downturn. Still, the reader writes: "After four years of persistent cutting, the group admitted that the papers' staffs are now too small to be viable. So they are reshaping the company to enable further cuts.They are to be invited to apply for jobs in a new, flatter, merged operation. There will be 200 posts advertised, all under new terms and conditions (so lower salaries and fewer holidays are expected at the minimum)."
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
7 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Does this mean Gannett will not be contributing that $14.6 million to the UK retirement fund for 2008? That's the figure that's in the annual report. I think that's worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteThat's some scary shit. I hope they don't try that on this side of the Atlantic.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.allmediascotland.com/articles/3376/03122008/herald_staff_made_redundant
ReplyDeleteThis gives the details and also seems to tell what the union is doing about this.
why wouldn't they try it here? Circuit City did it a couple of years ago...of course, they're in the toidy now--wow, who knew that getting rid of the experienced employees and hiring in new ignorant people would be a bad idea?
ReplyDeleteYou're right about Circuit City. The poor public image cast by that labor bloodbath helped to sink it, IMHO. Corporations aren't valuing public image, as they should ... as anyone in Gannett's advertising and marketing could've/would've told management if they had been willing to listen.
ReplyDeleteIs there a UK sister blog where we can see more about this?
9:26 AM
ReplyDeleteI've been following it in The Guardian and on a site called allmediaScotland. Interesting stuff.
http://milnemedia.typepad.com/
ReplyDeleteAbove is link to Scottish journalist blogger Shaun Milne. Interested Gannett employees will find all they need to know about the situation in Glasgow here. As one poster said, it's scary shit. I work on The Herald and have been employed in Scottish newspapers for 30 years and this is the most serious situation I can remember. It's been called Wapping 2, referring to the situation in London 20 years ago when Rupert Murdoch destroyed the print unions and changed the face of the British press.
There is a strong feeling here that the moves at the Herald group are being backed by Gannett. My personal view is that Newsquest, and by extension Gannett, want to break the National Union of Journalists and ride roughshod over the UK regional newspaper industry. The Herald made 23 million pounds profit last year and 26m the year before. Our editorial staff has been reduced by 30% in the four years since Newsquest took over and it is impossible for us to downsize any more and survive as one of the oldest quality newspapers in the world. We have been told we must move swiftly to embrace the new multimedia age but the company has demonstrated no willingness (or ability) to invest properly in either its staff (by means of retraining) or in the technology required to build this new multimedia operation. The recession is being used as an excuse for much of their actions including their reneging on a January pay deal which was agreed with the union two years ago.
The people who are now running this show are not fit for purpose. The lunatics are taking over the asylum! I fear the worst. Watch this space.