By Gabriel Princewill-
The National Union of Journalists are in a storm against Trinity Mirror over planned cuts to employment.
The Union has strongly condemned expressed plans of Trinity Mirror to cut 49 mainly print editorial jobs at regional level. The union described the plans as “savage”, as it launched a scathing attack on the Mirror group for plans the latter has described as being in line with changing their brand.
Founded in 1907, the NUJ promote the notion of treating other members of the union and union staff with consideration and respect. The union is also actively against taking actions ”which threaten their livelihood or working conditions”. It also calls for members to defend the interests of other members of the union in the same way as they would defend their own interests.
News of the cuts from the UK’s largest regional publisher has gone down badly with a number of regional journalists, who are disillusioned with news of the planned redundancies. Some members of the NUJ were livid on Friday, as the announcement of job redundancies were made by Trinity Mirror.
One NUJ insider told The Eye Of Media.Com on Friday:
”Trinity Mirror are an affluent organisation which expose the wrongdoings of celebrities and organisations as part of their everyday affair, meanwhile they have embarked on a wholly immoral plan. It is time for them to be shamed for what they really are”.
Trinity Mirror in response, has rubbished the union’s comments, branding it “hyperbole” from an organisation “more concerned with its own PR than with the future of local journalism”.
NUJ says Trinity Mirror plans to establish a new publishing model to create a “standalone” digital business. They accuse Trinity Mirror of ”plotting these job cuts” without any consideration for the adverse effect it will have on newsrooms regionally.
Trinity Mirror in response, has rubbished the union’s comments, branding it “hyperbole” from an organisation “more concerned with its own PR than with the future of local journalism”.
A spokesperson from Trinity Mirror added: “We are focused on securing the sustainable long term future of local journalism, by adapting to the changing demands of readers, while the NUJ have their heads firmly in the sand”.
However, aggrieved NUJ personnel accuseTrinity Mirror are being selfish and insensitive. They point out that the Mirror Group has agreed to buy four national newspaper titles from Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell company, including the Daily Express and Daily Star, in a deal worth a staggering £127m. The NUJ say the plans highlight a contradiction.
Clarifying the seeming discrepancy, a Trinity Mirror spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com: ” The two are not connected at all. Trinity Mirror wants to achieve efficiency by creating more news content to re-brand our services of websites and cut print journalism jobs”.
Asked whether editors and journalists being made redundant do not have the skills to adapt to the requirements of the re-branding, the spokesperson said: ”It’s nothing to do with that. Those jobs and roles[being made redundant] are not needed for our re-branding”.
The NUJ are bitterly criticised Trinity Mirror’s decision not to engage with it or staff in advance of the announcement. The union said it showed the publisher was “welded to a strategy of cutting costs, cutting journalists and reducing, the variety of information and content provided to local communities”. However, Trinity Mirror is insistent that its re-branding will lead to more innovative information and content which will benefit its audience much better.
The dispute is tense and poised to ruin any existing relationship between Trinity Mirror and the NUJ. Most members of the Mirror are official members of the NUJ, making this dispute somewhat bizarre , but an inevitable consequence of two groups viewing the same situation from different vantage points. Trinity Mirror have different objectives from the NUJ, driven by a new vision driving the two organisations apart.
DIVIDE
The NUJ’s mounting criticism against Trinity Mirror highlights a telling divide between two organisations expected to be unified in their purpose. However, their independence invariably affirms the potential for this kind of serious misunderstanding.
was “orchestrating these brutal cuts to their own workforce” they were also receiving public money to recruit 144 Local Democracy Reporters as part of the Local News Partnership between the BBC and News Media Association”
The Union describes the move by Trinity Mirror as ”shameful and ”unacceptable. It says the purported plans of Trinity Mirror are not viable, despite acknowledging the objectives as “laudable goals” .
However, Trinity Mirror said “Our strategy is working and our stories are reaching more local people per day than at any time since the 1970s.”
REDUNDANT
In the East Midlands, sixteen roles in the East Midlands are expected to be made redundant under the plans, which will impact on Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, the NUJ said, with the Burton Mail website to be shut and absorbed into Derbyshire Live.
“At the moment the workforce cover two counties and fear the changes will alienate many readers,” said a spokesperson.
In Liverpool , plans for eight redundancies are underway, with three new roles created. In Coventry, one of three content editors is at risk and one of three specialist reporters but there are also plans to hire two trainees.
The Union said changes proposed for Bristol and the other South West centres were “still emerging”.
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INCREDULOUS
Chris Morley, Trinity Mirror NUJ coordinator, said: “In the days following the chief executive’s bragging that Trinity Mirror was a ‘very profitable’ company and putting millions of pounds in the pocket of Richard Desmond to buy the Express Newspapers stable off him, our members are incredulous at this savage blow to journalism across big parts of the group.
“We know that shareholders are being handsomely rewarded with a 6.4 per cent dividend pay-out and that the company has effortlessly stumped up a further £10m to try to smooth over the hacking scandal victims.
“We also know in recent weeks that Trinity Mirror has gobbled up the lion’s share of £8m that has been cut from the BBC’s budget for journalism to provide Local Democracy Reporters.
“Yet all the time, senior managers have been plotting these huge numbers of job cuts that will have a major impact on already badly weakened newsrooms.
“If digital is to be a success for the company, our members want to see a company committed wholeheartedly to it with investment in editorial.
“Instead, the same grim recipe of cuts, increasing stress for those who remain and a sapping of morale as members again feel let down by their own leaders.
“Shockingly, for those being made redundant in Local World centres, their exit will come with only the statutory minimum as Trinity Mirror continues to treat staff in these operations as second class employees when they want to take away their jobs.
This is unacceptable and shaming and something the union will continue to highlight.
“The inquiry that Theresa May called for in the media cannot come soon enough to shine a searchlight on newspaper companies who continue to enjoy huge profits but fail to invest in their staff.”
The fall out between the NUJ and Trinity Mirror is a deep one which can be resolved once some understanding between the two organisations is achieved.