Online Journalism News

Trinity Mirror Birmingham chapel calls off strike action

National Union of Journalist (NUJ) members at Trinity Mirror's Birmingham chapel have suspended planned strike action, after the company assured journalists there will be no compulsory job losses.

The strike action was planned after the publisher said all journalists at the group's Midlands titles would have to reapply for their jobs as part of a management and organisational restructure resulting in voluntary redundancies.

NUJ members at Coventry and Midland Weekly Media will vote tomorrow on whether to continue with the industrial action, which was scheduled for October 8 and 9.

The NUJ says it still has concerns about an increased workload for journalists and will continue discussions with the company to discuss how the changes will be made.

Speaking in a release issued today, Chris Morley, NUJ Northern Organiser, said while he welcomed the back-down over compulsory redundancies 'we [the NUJ] can take no comfort from the fact that a quarter of Trinity Mirror's journalists in the Midlands do not have sufficient confidence in the projected future to want to stay.'

Morley said the people volunteering to leave included younger, as well as older, journalists.

"Where the new digital multimedia world should be exciting those starting off in their careers, instead many are being put off by the prospect of gross overloading of tasks.

"They're concerned that by serving so many platforms simultaneously, the essence of their journalism will be lost," he said.

Morley said in the release that the 'rush for exit' only confirmed the NUJ Chapel's 'determination to win a comprehensive agreement on new multimedia working'.

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