NUJ decries largescale job cuts at Metro
The NUJ has responded to plans to cut significant numbers of staff at Metro, warning that the decision will “undermine” future success at the company and contribute to a wider industry decline.
Elected NUJ reps have been informed that 90 staff are being placed at risk, with 61 redundancies proposed and three new roles created. It’s not yet clear where exactly those proposed cuts are to fall.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“The NUJ decries news of proposed large-scale redundancies at the Metro and the impact this will have on our members and its readers. The newspaper’s editor recently said that the company needed to make ‘radical change’ to put it on a sustainable footing. Axing staff who have contributed to making the publication one of the fastest growing news brands in the UK is not the way to go - and will undermine that success.
“This decision follows a worrying trend of job cuts across the industry including the recent announcement of another 160 redundancies at the publisher Reach. This decline represents a threat to the future of journalism and the health of our democracy. The NUJ has written to the UK Chancellor to call for urgent reforms laid out in the union's News Recovery Plan to revitalise the industry. This includes a 6% windfall tax on tech giants as well as an ongoing digital tax to be reinvested in the sector to protect jobs, conditions, and public access to quality news.”