By
Hamish Mackay The NUJ was in talks this week with management at
Scotsman Publications, following the Edinburgh-based newspaper group’s
surprise decision to make seven journalists compulsorily redundant.
The
talks followed the joint NUJ chapel of The Scotsman and Scotland on
Sunday unanimously passing a motion that called for the redundancies to
be “rescinded” and warned of a ballot for industrial action if the jobs
were not reinstated.
However, Press Gazette understands that the
NUJ may be prepared to settle for a better payoff settlement for the
journalists than the six months’ salary they are believed to have been
offered.
The redundancies involve five editorial staff on The Scotsman and two on Scotland on Sunday.
Scotsman Publications managing director Steven Walker said there would be no more editorial job cuts at the company.
He said the seven redundancies were made to protect the business in the future.
Advertising
revenue next year was expected to be as tight as in 2002-03, and the
company had already earmarked £10m for its mailroom system and was
working on a timeline to improve its printing plant facilities, Walker
said.
“We had to look at costs very, very closely.
We
discussed with certain heads, areas where we could still produce a
quality product with fewer people and we offered people a package –
those people are now considering it.”
■ Press Gazette reported
last week that Gillian Glover, of The Scotsman, was one of the staff
being made redundant. This is not the case.
However, Gillian Welsh, of Scotland on Sunday, is one of the seven departing.
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