Journalists at Johnston Press‘s redundancy-threatened titles in South Yorkshire have voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action, according to the NUJ.
Last month the Scottish-based publisher told staff of plans to have one editor covering the South Yorkshire Times, the Goole Courier and the Selby Times instead of three.
A reporter and editorial assistant at it Johnston’s Mexborough office could also be made redundant in plans to cut 18 jobs across all departments.
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said tofay’s ballot ‘sends a very clear message’to management that its members were willing to fight against the cuts.
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Stanistreet said the union was in a ‘battle’over ‘quality and resources’and described the company’s proposals as a ‘stark threat to our members’ living and the future of the industry”.
NUJ northern and midlands regional organiser Chris Morley said the proposals were ‘reckless”, adding: ‘The company plans to half the team producing the best performing weekly paper in the region – the South Yorkshire Times.
‘This is a paper that has maintained its circulation, influence and readership which goes to show that if you offer people top quality local journalism in print, they will still pay for it.”
Last month the editor of the South Yorkshire Times printed a front-page story on the proposed job cuts.
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