NUJ “furious” at 300 jobs cuts at DC Thomson
The union has vowed to fight to protect the jobs of our members threatened by redundancies at Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson
The family-owned publisher, which produces the Press and Journal, the Courier, Sunday Post, Evening Express and Evening Telegraph newspapers as well as numerous magazines including The Beano has previously recorded a pre-tax profit for the twenty years before the pandemic hit.
In a meeting called at short notice on Wednesday morning staff were told that the business was looking to make redundancies across the business. In some areas whole teams have been told that their roles are at risk.
The cuts will affect staff based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow as well as in England, with magazines Platinum, Evergreen, Living, Shout, Animals and You and Animal Planet Kids to be closed completely.
The publishing group has a reputation for being unfriendly to unions, and the NUJ has never been recognised there, despite having a sizeable number of members.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, organiser at the NUJ’s Scottish Office said:
“These are brutal cuts, and we will robustly defend the jobs of our members. Our members are furious both with how the company has handled these redundancies, and because they are seeking to make £10m cuts across the business after paying out £24million in dividends to shareholders last year. The jobs of hard-working journalists should not be sacrificed to pay the price of extravagant shareholder profits.”
Any affected members who have not heard directly from the NUJ should contact the Scottish Office on [email protected] or 0141 251 3600 so that they can be advised.