Congress calls for reinstatement of forced-out newspaper staff

(Thursday 23 April 2009)

by Malcolm Burns in Perth

Congress passed an emergency motion from the National Union of Journalists on Wednesday condemning the actions of Daily Record and Sunday Mail directors for cutting a quarter of editorial jobs.

NUJ Scottish organiser Paul Holleran said: "What can I tell you about the Daily Record and Sunday Mail directors?

"Their greed is surpassed only by their vindictiveness, which is surpassed only by their incompetence."

Mr Holleran said the directors had reneged on a deal following industrial action over workplace stress last year.

"We have 250 journalists in the Daily Record and Sunday Mail," he said.

"A cut of 75 is a huge hit for us. We compromised over redundancies and new technology and shift patterns, but they rejected our offer and went ahead with selections for compulsory redundancies using completely inappropriate criteria."

"These are not loss-making companies," Mr Holleran continued.

"The Daily Record and Sunday Mail have made in excess of £20 million profit a year.

"This dispute is about jobs but also about the quality of newspapers - these directors have driven down and sacrificed quality journalism by making huge cuts in search of further profit."

Arguing for more democratic ownership and control of the press, Roddy Robertson of the FBU said: "The question that should be asked in public is are these papers safe in the hands of the directors?"

Congress called for the reinstatement of the 23 NUJ members at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail who have been selected for the compulsory redundancy.

The NUJ chapel has been taking strike action against the forced-through compulsory redundancies.

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