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Johnston Press to cut up to 30 Scottish staff

Posted: 06/08/08 By: Laura Oliver
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Staff at Johnston Press' Scottish publishing division are facing a round of job cuts by the group.

The redundancies will affect up to 30 staff in the editorial, merchandising and distribution, sales, pre-press and IT departments of Scotsman Publications, which publishes The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News.

The cuts are part of a restructuring of these departments following an organisational review.

"We have started the consultation process directly with those affected, as well as through their representatives," the company said in a press statement.

"Every effort will be made to minimise the impact of these proposals on those at risk of redundancy, including voluntary severance and redeployment."

Paul Holleran, Scottish organiser for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said while job cuts are always unwelcome, the offer of redundancy packages to affected journalists was 'a fresh approach'.

"It would be fair to say people were expecting more editorial cuts than they [Johnston Press] have put forward," he told Journalism.co.uk.

"So far we haven't really seen any staffers being targeted. It's mainly casuals, some of them long-term casuals, who are going to be given a package to go."

A series of talks will be held with the publisher over the next few days to discuss any impact the job losses will have on editorial, he added.

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