News

Redundancies finalised at Herald group

The long drawn-out process of mass redundancies at the Herald group of papers in Glasgow – in which all 250 staff were told to re-apply for 210 jobs just before Christmas – appears to be close to completion, with the announcement of the departing staff.

It is the third round of redundancies at the group, which includes the Herald, the Sunday Herald and the Evening Times, in the past four years, but this time the cuts are much the deepest. Casualties on the sports desks include the Sunday paper’s feature writer Alan Campbell, and Martin Greig, a senior sports reporter on the daily paper which has carried the bulk of the job losses, with 22 people leaving. AllMediaScotland today carried the full list.

Morale among the staff across the group has been at rock bottom for several months, not least because in December, when many volunteers had been told that they would be given redundancy on set terms, the management cancelled all arrangements in dispute with the NUJ chapel. It has taken almost two months since to resolve the situation.

The hiatus was ended by editor-in-chief, Donald Martin in a memo to staff: “We are delighted to announce we have now finalised our group editorial restructuring plan and all outstanding contracts and job offers will be issued by early next week.”

Martin apologised for “the long period of uncertainty… as we worked our way through a complex and challenging consultation and budget process.”

And he thanked staff: “Your continued professionalism and support during this difficult time has been much appreciated. The main reason for the delay was management’s desire to avoid any compulsory redundancies in Multimedia, Production or Content and I am delighted to confirm we have achieved that primary objective. All individuals, except those who have already had their voluntary redundancies confirmed, will be offered roles within the new set-up.”

More on sports desk job cuts:

NI job cuts begin to bite on sports desks

Record’s sports editor leaves in Glasgow cull

Chadband among casualties in Derry Street

Fraser quits Independent to return to Middlesex

Express to cut more than 70 jobs

Sports desk at centre of Telegraph concern

Brighton’s weekly sports paper to close

Click here to see a timeline of journalism job losses


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