I've just gone on strike...
Discussion
Never thought I'd be stood on a picket line, not being the militant sort.
140 of us (virtually 100 per cent of all the editorial staff on both the Yorkshire Evening Post and Yorkshire Post) walked out on Wednesday after work in protest at compulsory redundancies, the general running down of the newspapers by management and trying to get better settlements for those that have volunteered for redundancy.
After borrowing £700m to buy up loads of smaller newspaper groups a couple of years ago our owners Johnston Press can't repay the money, have £460m of debts and the share price has dropped from £5.30 a share last year to 6p!!!
The galling thing is that amongst all this mismanagement the company is still making big profits - over £200m last year, but they want to make lots of us redundant. I'm a sub-editor by the way.
The quality of our newspaper has suffered because we are already down to the bare bones staff wise.
We're on strike for 4 days at the moment, with another 4 days planned for next week if need be.
The painter Ashley Jackson was with us on the picket line this morning and playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn has sent his support and is also hopefully putting in an appearance.
The support from the public has been brilliant - I think they know that we are fighting to uphold quality regional journalism and are not a bunch of commie anarchists!
Everyone should strike at least once in the life
Save Leeds's Local Newspapers - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64125868055&...
140 of us (virtually 100 per cent of all the editorial staff on both the Yorkshire Evening Post and Yorkshire Post) walked out on Wednesday after work in protest at compulsory redundancies, the general running down of the newspapers by management and trying to get better settlements for those that have volunteered for redundancy.
After borrowing £700m to buy up loads of smaller newspaper groups a couple of years ago our owners Johnston Press can't repay the money, have £460m of debts and the share price has dropped from £5.30 a share last year to 6p!!!
The galling thing is that amongst all this mismanagement the company is still making big profits - over £200m last year, but they want to make lots of us redundant. I'm a sub-editor by the way.
The quality of our newspaper has suffered because we are already down to the bare bones staff wise.
We're on strike for 4 days at the moment, with another 4 days planned for next week if need be.
The painter Ashley Jackson was with us on the picket line this morning and playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn has sent his support and is also hopefully putting in an appearance.
The support from the public has been brilliant - I think they know that we are fighting to uphold quality regional journalism and are not a bunch of commie anarchists!
Everyone should strike at least once in the life
Save Leeds's Local Newspapers - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64125868055&...
Good luck to you all...Thatcherism's lasting legacy may have been the revitalisation of our economy, but the price for doing so was giving too much power to ALL management, the good and the bad, taking too much away from the employees...and instances like this really make you question whether the price was too high...
That said, I'm now in a better job closer to home, so fingers crossed your colleagues can find the same if the strikes don't work out.
jonott said:
The galling thing is that amongst all this mismanagement the company is still making big profits - over £200m last year, but they want to make lots of us redundant.
I got made redundant nearly 3 years ago under similar circumstances. The plus side for me was that it wasn't a recession.That said, I'm now in a better job closer to home, so fingers crossed your colleagues can find the same if the strikes don't work out.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
This is the P&P you're not allowed to support 'lefties'
Good to see the OP standing up for what's right - but, ultimately, I believe it'll just be a stay of execution - local, printed, newspapers are rapidly heading for the scrap-heap.
Why pay ( or have delivered ) a newspaper telling you that Mrs Jones's cat got stuck up a tree? - the 'net will eventually kill off local papers as my parent's generation die out.(Does anyone under the age of 60 actually buy their local paper these days?)
Well, sounds like management have been doing a reasonable job in, frankly, an outdated medim - if they borrowed £700 million a couple of years ago and have paid down £260 million of it. Though it sonds like they've been cutting YEP to the bone.
Surprised they mananged to make £200 million in one financial year though. If that was operating profit, they probably have another £26+ million interest to pay and then some corporation tax. Then they'll want to pay some more of that debt down and pay the shareholders a dividend.
Hope the strike action goes well - not sre what it will achieve though? Everyone losing their job and stat minimum payout (£800 per employee + holiday pay) from the liquidation?
Surprised they mananged to make £200 million in one financial year though. If that was operating profit, they probably have another £26+ million interest to pay and then some corporation tax. Then they'll want to pay some more of that debt down and pay the shareholders a dividend.
Hope the strike action goes well - not sre what it will achieve though? Everyone losing their job and stat minimum payout (£800 per employee + holiday pay) from the liquidation?
sparkythecat said:
Our evening paper is crap. It's published before lunch, so all the stories are yesterdays news.
You must be reading the Yorkshire Evening Post. Our Saturday edition for news has a deadline of 4pm FRIDAY.sparkythecat said:
I'm also curious as to why a provincial newspaper needs 140 editorial staff.
It does seem rather a lot
That covers TWO papers - The Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post.It does seem rather a lot
Alfa_75_Steve said:
ultimately, I believe it'll just be a stay of execution
You could well be right, as far as sub-editors are concerned anyway. Some British papers are now being sub-edited in India!Thanks for all your support comrades
King Herald said:
£200 mill profit last year, and they are now doing this???? Jaysus wept, what has become of our once-proud society????
The evils of "forecasting" to shareholders. Make £200million profit last year, forecast a 7% rise for the following year based on a 5-7% increase over the last 2 years. Then if that isn't happening and it turns out to only be a potential 4% increase or perhaps even a loss and the brown stuff generally hits the fan. So they try to cut back on costs to make the figures look better and even possibly hit the 7% they need to be able to smile at their major shareholders and investors and they get their shiny big bonuses and keep their own jobs.Alfa_75_Steve said:
Why pay ( or have delivered ) a newspaper telling you that Mrs Jones's cat got stuck up a tree? - the 'net will eventually kill off local papers as my parent's generation die out.(Does anyone under the age of 60 actually buy their local paper these days?)
I do for the job section, then I throw the rest in the bin. I've globally warmed Cheshire by 0.2 degrees.Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff