Osborne however is continuing with the ConDems fiscal tightening, which will lead to more job losses and cuts. Hundred of thousands of people will join the TUC demonstration and march for an alternative to cuts and job losses.

The NUJ will be assembling at the Embankment with other trade unionists from 11.00am onwards. Come along on Saturday and march with your union.

For more information go to the NUJ website

Lorraine on the bus – About 26 March

The three main unions at the BBC: NUJ, Bectu and Unite are organising the action in protest against plans to cut pensions. NUJ members voted by more than 90 per cent to strike.

The top brass at the BBC are proposing to cut the link between salary and pension by putting a one percent cap on any pension increase. Managers claim that the pension fund is in debt to nearly £2 billion – this is rejected by the three unions: NUJ, Bectu and Unite.

The pension attack is part of a series of attacks on the BBC and its staff such as pay, threats to the World Service and government intentions to sell-off parts of the public body.

The NUJ Left supports the strikes and will be visiting picket lines across the county. Please download this petition, get you’re fellow workers to sign it and take it along to a picket line near you.

Scarborough and Sheffield NUJ members at the company voted for strike action in protest against the way management has introduced Atex.

The votes came as NUJ chapels at Johnston Press are balloting for national action over Atex and the lack of serious negotiations over jobs,  increased workloads, and the creation of regional production hubs.

See stories on this site for more on the dispute

In a move described by the NUJ as a “jobs massacre”, Johnston Press is moving its remaining subs to a new regional production hub in Preston. This mirrors what is happening in Sheffield with the creation of a production hub and loss of subs jobs on surrounding areas such as Scarborough (see articles below).

There are plans for similar moves in Sunderland and on the Yorkshire Post/Evening Post.

Technology used to cut costs

The regional hubs are being introduced as a result of the new Atex content management system, which allows journalists to write directly to page without the need of subs. This has been tried before in the industry with a loss of quality, jobs and remaining staff becoming even more overworked.

It is also a threat to local democracy and accountability. Local papers will be produced some distance from the areas they are supposedly serving. The North West has been particularly hit already by the loss of local papers with the Scott Trust’s  sale of Manchester Evening News and other local titles to Trinity Mirror, which closed 44 tiles and axed 1,400 jobs in the past couple of years.

Bankers demand cuts

Staff have already walked out this year and are currently working to rule. There is a national ballot next week in the Johnston Press titles for strike action against the introduction of Atex.

The changes are made not to improve quality but to satisfy the bankers who are demanding Johnston Press pay off some of its debts. New technology is being used to cut staff, costs and quality.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “Editorial resources have been cut to the bone to pay for the Johnston debt mountain created a through a foolish policy of buying up other titles at high cost. Now their bankers are telling them to start making repayments. Our members refuse to be the victims of that mismanagement car crash.”

NUj Northern Organiser Lawrence Shaw told staff at the Johnson Press:  “Johnston Press bosses have now as much as admitted that they are not in control of their company any more – it is being run by the banks that have refinanced their escalating debts. These are debts that have been incurred due to the gross incompetence of the company bosses who failed to invest during times of heavy profit and instead squandered money on pointless projects and vast bonuses to shareholders and fat cat bosses.”

Vote Yes in national ballot

He added: “The only way for us to have any impact against Johnston Press is by means of a national ballot with the results coinciding with the Annual Shareholders Meeting in Edinburgh at which the NUJ will be organising a wide protest.”

The NUJ Left supports Johnson Press staff in their dispute with the bosses and bankers and calls on members to deliver a big Yes vote for strike action.  We believe a national strike in regional papers would be well supported and could act as a catalyst for other journalists to fight back against the bosses and bankers who are intent on destroying jobs and quality in the pursuit of greater profits.

We also call on members to start organising solidarity meetings with Johnston Press staff, speaking tours and collections at work.

Together we can win.

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

In Sheffield, the introduction of the system has seen reporters, feature writers and newsdesk staff grapple with producing most of the pages with practically no training, while page editors have watched their workload dwindle as they now handle only 20 per cent of pages.

In addition, the company is moving towards a centralised production hub based in Sheffield for North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. Fears that this may be widened to the whole of Yorkshire were strengthened when the company announced that the work of production journalists in  Scarborough was being moved to Sheffield – a journey of 100 miles which would take two hours by car.

Staff who don’t go can either redeploy to fill reporting vacancies (some of which are done by staff on short-term contracts or take severance.

The Sheffield Star is also moving to overnight printing from 26 March, which further hits news and sports coverage and means staff are being asked to voluntarily cover late shifts including Sunday nights. Talks with management are ongoing about this.

Sheffield MoC Julia Armstrong said: “Morale here has plummeted but anger has risen with each announcement, which leads us to believe our management in Edinburgh have lost the plot. All of this has caused our members an incredible amount of stress and worry, both for their jobs and for the state of the coverage we can offer our readers. Overnight printing means we may well not be able to report the result of the general election in the next day’s paper.

“We urge all other JP chapels who are facing similar attacks to ballot now as joint action is the only effective way forward. Our colleagues in Blackpool have already led the way with a magnificent vote.”

The ballot result should be due on 8 April.

To send messages of support to Sheffield, email saveourstar@hotmail.co.uk

Johnston Press are trying to force staff to use the much-criticised Atex “content management system”.  This will involve slashing jobs and forcing sub-editors in Scarborough to move to Sheffield or face the sack.

Journalists at the Blackpool Gazette and Herald are leading the campaign with a Day of Action against Atex on Monday 22 March. The withdrawal of goodwill and refusal to attend training courses on the new system is in defiance of management’s claim that a massive “yes” vote for action in a consultative ballot was invalid.

Johnston debts

Johnston Press is heavily in debt from ill-advised investments in the nineties and noughties, yet is still pulling in double-digit operating profits. Its scandalous “take-it-or-take-off” ultimatum has provoked widespread anger among NUJ members not seen before.

Chapels at Johnston Press can use this anger and start planning for national industrial action across all titles, with a ballot likely from mid-April.

NUJ Left members should firmly support the campaign at Johnston Press. It is time to act on the consultative ballot (which showed 87% in favour of action) over the Atex changes. Determined and united industrial action is the best way for members to demonstrate that quality and our jobs are not expendable. No divide and rule at Johnston Press. Support a single ballot against Atex. Vote “yes” for national action.

The Scott Trust claims that Trinity Mirror is best placed to develop regional and local newspapers – ignoring the fact that Trinity axed 44 titles and 1600 jobs last year. More closures and job losses are in the offing around the country as Trinity make huge losses.

The recession is leading to even greater concentration of media ownership with a handful of multinationals owning the vast majority of UK  newspapers and websites.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ deputy general secretary, warned over fears to “editorial independence” which should concern government,  local communities and the media industry.

Lawrence Shaw, NUJ assistant organiser in the North West and Midlands, said: “Public services such as local papers are becoming ever more distant from the communities they serve.”

He was concerned over the sale and whether Trinity would just use the takeover to make quick profits, he said. “If you want a product that people want, you’ve got to invest in it…Manchester has a need for a daily newspaper, so there is absolutely a commercially viable product there.”

The NUJ Left believes that the media owners should be investing far more into newspapers and that there needs to be a serious debate over different forms of ownership such as co-operatives, not for profits,  social firms, and nationalisation under local control.