By Dominic Ponsford
News and picture desk journalists at The Sun are facing early starts
as part of an editorial shake-up proposed as part of a cost-cutting
package.
Management is proposing that the desks change to a five-day week
working from 6am-4pm, rather than the four-day, 7am-7pm system
reportedly in operation at the moment.
But according to one
insider there is a suspicion that the working day will drag on past 4pm
and journalists could end up working longer hours.
According to a
Sun source, News International Staff Association (NISA), the
company-funded union at the paper, has negotiated a reduction in the
number of compulsory redundancies from 20 to 16.
One theory doing
the rounds at Wapping is that the changes are connnected with the
construction of new £600m presses for all News International titles,
and that The Sun could be preparing to become more of a 24-hour news
operation further down the line.
Both NISA and Sun management declined to comment.
The changes have coincided with the revival of The Sun’s NUJ chapel last Friday after a break of 20 years.
The NUJ claims to have 50 members, out of a total editorial headcount claimed by management to be in the region of 400.
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