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February 19, 2009

Shropshire journalists vote for strike action over job cuts

By Jon Slattery

Journalists at the Shropshire Star and its associated weeklies have voted in favour of industrial action over proposed compulsory job cuts, the union said today.

In a ballot of National Union of Journalists members at the titles, 58 per cent said they were in favour of strike action and 85 per cent in favour of some form of industrial action short of a strike.

The chapel will hold a mandatory meeting next Wednesday evening to discuss what form the industrial action should take.

The NUJ has claimed 12 editorial jobs have been targeted by parent company Midland News Association.

According to the union, the jobs under threat are those of the weeklies group editor, one out of five other weekly editors, five reporters, two subs and three editorial support workers.

The NUJ chapel said it was concerned that a number of young reporters could be axed in the middle of their training.

Midland News Association announced in October that there would be 135 job losses across its titles, including the Shropshire papers and the Wolverhampton Express and Star, the UK’s biggest-selling regional evening paper.

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Management subsequently told Press Gazette that there would be about 120 job cuts in total.

The company said the redundancies were the result of the economic downturn – which had led to a decline in advertising revenues in jobs, motoring and advertising.

It estimated that the cutbacks would make annual savings of £3m.

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