Daily the Worcester News is among the Newsquest Midlands newspapers affected by a proposed title merger
The NUJ has criticised Newsquest over a planned restructure at its Midlands South centre which will result in the loss of seven full-time editorial staff despite a "massive surge in profits" at the publisher last year.
Newsquest is proposing to create merge editorial operations for all its Worcester division titles, which comprise one daily, the Worcester News, and six weeklies: the Berrows Journal, Malvern Gazette, Ledbury Reporter, Evesham Journal, Perhsore Journal and Cotswold Journal.
It also intends to centralise all sports sub-editing across the region in the existing Worcester "subbing hub", affecting the Stourbridge and Hereford titles.
The NUJ has said that the resulting seven job losses are unacceptable given that the publisher enjoyed a 40 per cent rise in profits to £5.2 million in the 2010 financial year, pushing its profit margin up to 26.4 per cent with a modest 1.6 per cent fall in turnover to £23.7 million.
According to Newsquest's financial report for the year [PDF], its wage bill was cut by £429,000 between 2009 and 2010, from £8.2 million to £7.8 million.
Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands Organiser, accused Newsquest of "taking its staff for a ride by constantly telling them the business is suffering and cuts are needed – but failing to inform them that the huge profits are still rolling in.
"The NUJ challenges managers at Newsquest Midlands South to properly demonstrate that more redundancies are a necessity for survival – and not just a ploy to keep chief executive Paul Davidson in the luxury to which he is accustomed on his £612,000 salary.
"The company has many renowned titles here, some going back 320 years to the dawn of newspapers, and has a responsibility to their communities – not just shovelling money across the Atlantic to American shareholders of the parent group Gannett.
"We believe that if Newsquest wants to be seen to be acting responsibly and for its Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy to be anything more than just hot air, it must listen to its own instructions. It must stop the sackings to give journalists enough of a break to produce the quality work needed to keep their titles in business for the long term."
Newsquest said that it would "try to avoid unnecessary redundancy situations wherever possible and will be asking for volunteers and looking at natural wastage through non-filling of vacancies".
According to the publisher, no staff will be forced to leave the company before the end of the year.
Newsquest declined to make further comment.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- What can generative AI actually do for ordinary journalists?
- Five key takeaways from the UK select committee on the future of news
- How Reuters, Newsquest and BBC experiment with generative AI
- How to integrate a solutions mindset in your newsroom
- Newsquest experiments with audio to boost audience engagement and subscriptions
