NUJ slams further redundancies at Reach plc
The union has expressed its dismay at redundancies announced by publisher Reach, on 3 July.
The NUJ understands 11 roles have been put at risk of redundancy with seven job losses expected from this pool.The cuts will affect roles in regional sport, In Your Area management and four specific roles in the Live Network. They present yet another blow to journalists deeply concerned about job security and low morale following several cost-cutting redundancy rounds.
Chris Morley, NUJ Reach national coordinator, said:
“This is the third set of redundancies within Reach this year and the uncertainty this brings is clearly extremely distressing for those put at risk but also has a corrosive effect throughout the workforce.
“We understand that previous savings targets may not have been met and so these jobs are now in the firing line. We are looking for a line to be drawn under the massive £30 million cuts total set at the beginning of the year to counter poor trading conditions.
“The NUJ will stand by and support any member put at risk in these latest cuts, but we are concerned that the strong track record we have had of successful redeployments in other redundancy rounds will be that much harder due to a more stringent corporate jobs freeze put in place.”
Reach management have confirmed redundancies are being pursued due to an uncertain trading environment, and a need to improve its operations efficiency.