Trinity Mirror has shocked staff by announcing another round of editorial redundancies at its newspaper centre in Birmingham.
Alexander: took over as Post editor in August
Staff were told last week that the company is looking to axe nine jobs at The Birmingham Post and a further seven vacant posts will not be replaced.
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Trinity said it was hoping to achieve the job cuts by voluntary redundancies where possible. A month’s consultation with staff has already begun.
The move comes just as The Birmingham Post was settling down under new editor Fiona Alexander, who took over the editorship in August. Her appointment followed the sudden departure of Dan Mason in March. Among the jobs under threat at the Post are said to be those of the deputy editor, head of news, head of content, head of business, head of features and London-based City and political correspondents.
A new role of assistant editor, content, is to be introduced.
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Some Post journalists have already been sent home on “gardening leave”.
Post and Mail NUJ FoC Chris Morley said of the proposed cuts: “This is devastating news. We believe these proposals would severely undermine The Birmingham Post at a critical time. There are a lot of angry people here and we are not ruling any action in or out.” The chapel was due to hold a mandatory meeting this week.
A Trinity Mirror spokesman told Press Gazette: “The redundancies on the Post are part of a restructure and streamlining of the editorial department, the aim of which is to increase performance and efficiency within the function. There is also a need to right-size staffing levels in line with the Post’s sales and revenue performance.
“We’re losing headcount overall and a number of vacant roles will not be filled. These roles are surplus to requirements due to reduced pagination on the Post [from 220 to 180 pages per week]. We are, however, very confident that there will be no effect on our ability to produce highquality newspapers.
“There are currently 10 vacancies within the operating structure, seven of which will not be filled. It is hoped the remaining three roles can be filled from within, thereby reducing the overall number of redundancies.”
Earlier this year, Trinity announced 20 redundancies across its newspaper titles in Birmingham.
By Jon Slattery
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