Manchester Evening News cuts a 'kick in the teeth', says NUJ

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Nearly 40 journalists at the Manchester Evening News are at risk of redundancy after Trinity Mirror announced up to 10 positions will need to be cut.

All levels of staff are affected across all titles, including news editors, subs and some sports editors.

Unions reacted angrily to the news, saying it was a "kick in the teeth" after a promise four months ago that there were no planned redundancy programmes.

But a spokesman for Trinity Mirror said this was true at the time.

“There were no plans to make redundancies at the beginning of March when this statement was made," he told Journalism.co.uk.

"When Trinity Mirror acquired MEN Media at the end of March we said that we would review the business and consult with employees and their representatives over any proposals and this is exactly what we have done."

Trinity Mirror announced the planned redundancies on Monday as the MEN and its 23 sister weekly titles are combined into one team. In a release , NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear says cutting journalists will only place the future of the papers in more doubt.

"This announcement will come as a kick in the teeth to those staff whose jobs are now at risk, particularly given Trinity Mirror's ￡72.7m pre-tax profit last year, chief executive, Sly Bailey's ￡1.4m pay packet, and her promise, made just four months ago, that 'There is no redundancy programme planned'. What we're seeing is another attempt at cost-cutting to inflate profit margins, but with newsrooms already cut to the bone, these redundancies will simply drive down the quality of the titles, ultimately threatening their very survival.

"The worry is that with the company scheduled to make further cuts in 2010, they may attempt a more savage redundancies round when they move staff to a new hub at Oldham, in September."

Bethan Dorsett co-mother of Chapel at MEN told Journalism.co.uk the cuts are "unacceptable and unnecessary".

"We are shocked by this short-sighted decision," she says. "We are not fundamentally opposed to a reorganisation of the MEN and weeklies operation but the loss of up to 10 valuable journalists is unacceptable and unnecessary. This has come as a further blow to our members following the the loss of nearly 80 jobs last year and news that our new owners plan to move the flagship city centre newspaper and other popular titles to Oldham."