By Dominic Ponsford
A round of 20 compulsory redundancies at The Sun looks set to prompt
the revival of the paper’s NUJ chapel after a near 20-year break.
Sun journalists were expected to meet to elect chapel officers and discuss their response to the redundancies on Friday.
According
to the NUJ, it has had more than 30 applications for union membership
from Sun journalists over the past two weeks. News International also
plans to cut Saturday working allowances for sport reporters and
increase the number of shifts worked by journalists, while keeping
their hours the same. Management also plans to cut the number of casual
staff used.
NUJ national newspapers organiser Barry Fitzpatrick
said: “The company says it is consulting the News International Staff
Association (NISA), but the journalists I’ve spoken to are totally
dissatisfied with the lack of representation.”
The existence of
NISA makes it impossible under the law for the NUJ to get official
management recognition at The Sun. But journalists would still be
legally entitled to take industrial action if they chose.
NISA was unavailable for comment.
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