View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
March 3, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 2:36pm

NUJ to fight journalists’dismissal by Arabic daily

By Press Gazette

By Dominic Ponsford

A dozen Arab journalists are appealing via the NUJ against their dismissal by London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al Awsat .

The journalists – about a third of the international paper’s workforce – were dismissed last week after “restructuring”.

Most
are veterans, some with more than 20 years of experience at the
paper.The staff involved claim their employee handbook guarantees 20
weeks’ salary as a redundancy payment to anyone who has completed more
than six years’ service.

Instead, they say they have been offered the statutory minimum payment of £280 for every year of service.

Asharq Al Awsat is owned by Saudi Research and Marketing Group and based at Arab Press House in High Holborn.

The affected journalists are from Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

One
said: “We feel sadness, sorrow and resentment about this – some of us
have served the company for more than 20 years and we are being treated
like this.”

The daily title has a circulation of about 200,000 and is distributed across the Arab world.

NUJ
organiser Mike Sherrington said: “For a lot of these people English is
not their first language, so employment opportunities elsewhere are
very slight.”

The NUJ plans to take the cases to an internal
appeal at the company. If that route fails, it may take the matter on
to the courts and/or employment tribunals.

Asharq Al Awsat management did not return phone calls from Press Gazette.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network