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April 22, 2004updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Frayed nerves as ITV Central staff are left dangling

By Press Gazette

Frustration continues to mount among ITV Central journalists at the absence of a timetable for the proposed move to Birmingham from Nottingham.

“People are very angry because they are not being given departure dates,” said a source. “They can’t plan their lives. That’s a particularly big thing for a lot of people who know they are going to go. But they are not being given proper notice, so they simply don’t know when they can leave, start other jobs, or how much more money they’ve got coming from ITV. That has caused a lot of upset.”

Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has endorsed the ITV Central journalists’ struggle to keep the East Midlands news operations based in Nottingham, and advised them that the “public campaign route” was the best way to address the issue.

Speaking to journalists and regional NUJ officials in Nottingham last week, the leader of the opposition, whose own Folkestone constituency is affected by ITV job losses and relocation from Meridian Television in Kent, said he was “in favour of any campaign to try to protect regional broadcasting support”.

One local NUJ official who was there told Press Gazette: “He said the best route was through public campaigning, even though there was no guarantee it would succeed.”

But as the leader of the Tory Party, however, it was highly unlikely that Howard would countenance encouraging trade union members to carry out industrial action.

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The MP tabled a Commons early day motion in November in response to the Meridian region job cuts.

A second alternative proposal by the NUJ to Meridian Television’s relocation and redundancy plans has been rejected by ITV management.

By Wale Azeez

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