Journalists on Johnston Press titles in the North are balloting for action over the introduction of new technology. The content management system is leading to greater workloads on some staff while threatening the jobs of others. Production staff in Scarborough have also been told that they will have to move to Sheffield. Here, Stephanie Pride, Joint MoC at Scarborough office, explains the dispute.

What was the workload before the system was introduced?
Stephanie Pride: “We’re already desperately overstretched in Scarborough and in our district offices, where a succession of senior vacancies have not been filled (also whole departments such as pre-press have gone aswell).
“Personally speaking, I work solo on a weekly with minimal editorial input from newsdesk or editor, while seven reporters write the daily Scarborough Evening News under the direction of a one-man newsdesk. It sometimes takes just one person to go off sick for chaos to reign as people are asked to ‘act up’ on no extra pay and with limited training or appropriate skills.
“Senior roles have been merged at other weekly publications, leaving some over-worked staff taking home laptops and working until midnight or later to maintain the same level of quality on their titles. Managers have brought in Freelances on an ad hoc basis and there have been as-yet unconfirmed rumours of overtime payments.”

How has the new system been introduced?
“We started training on the new system (as reporters) this week, but so-called ‘super-user’ training started the day before the formal announcement of the re-structuring on May 9. First off, the deputy editor was whisked off to Leeds; 2 weeks later, other senior staff were taken to another room in the office to begin their training.
“The feedback from one of those seniors who has completed their training is that it will create ‘a lot’ of extra work for everyone. There are also concerns about quality and serious mistakes going to press unless they are picked up by an over-worked ‘superuser’ who may know little about the stories the reporters are producing straight on to pages.”

What about the move to Sheffield?
“Production staff (subs) have been asked to move to Sheffield (a 200-mile round trip from Scarborough and no direct rail link) to work in a centralised production hub to produce 20 per cent of our pages. The rest of the pages will be produced in Scarborough by the remaining editorial staff.
“Not one of the six affected staff wants to go at such short notice with no long-term job security. (It has done under TUPE law, which is being challenged legally because the roles are different, there is no job security in Sheffield and the distance is unreasonable, and the consultation has been inadequate.) Those who want to stay with the company (four of them) are being asked to compete for four lower-paid vacancies. Two of the jobs are already held by trainee reporters, who don’t deserve to be dumped on contractual grounds and were led to believe they would be kept on if their work was good enough. I can only speak for one of those trainees, but his progress has been excellent and he is now a valued part of the team producing high quality work.”

What is the feeling among staff?
“All our members at the Scarborough Evening News and its sister weekly titles are furious at the way we’ve been treated and see this restructuring as another attack on quality local journalism for the sake of short-term profit for Johnston Press.
“The changes have been introduced at break-neck speed and our bosses have treated six hard-working professionals with complete contempt. Managers are using employment law designed to protect jobs to deny them the right to be considered redundant, despite the jobs they are being offered being radically changed.This latest move will rip the heart out of our office and probably give management the excuse to move us out our town centre premises, which are already half empty following waves of previous redundancies.”We hope people in our communities who value a strong local press will join us in our campaign to save one of the UK’s smallest daily newspapers and safeguard the standard and quality of reporting on our weeklies. The feedback so far suggests that they will. Many of us are desperate to take part in strike action or a work to rule to show management just how much they rely on our good will to get our papers out at all.”

Messages of support for Scarborough staff can be sent to spride@btinternet.com

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Tags: ballot, Johnston Press, technology