No confidence vote over MEN weekly newspaper cutbacks

Journalists working for the Guardian Media Group have declared a vote of no confidence in the Scott Trust Ltd over a decision to make sweeping job cuts.

Members at the NUJ chapel, which represents six weekly titles in the south of Greater Manchester, including the Rochdale Observer, unanimously passed the motion after the company announced 78 redundancies across GMG's weekly titles and sister paper the Manchester Evening News.

The Scott Trust-owned firm is also looking to close the offices of all its weekly titles in the region, which includes the Observer office on Drake Street.

The chapel has now written to the Scott Trust's chair of trustees, Dame Liz Forgan, to inform her of the vote of no confidence.

The letter, written on behalf of the chapel by MoC Bethan Dorsett, said: "Our members deplore the decision to make these sweeping job cuts, particularly the compulsory editorial redundancies - a first for MEN Media - which will affect around a third of the journalists working in the weeklies.

"We also condemn the decision to remove all local newspapers from their "patches", which will not only have a devastating effect both on readership, and therefore profits, but also on the remaining staff, who face a complete overhaul of their terms and conditions without the benefit of additional pay.

"We believe this short-sighted decision will effectively obliterate the existence of popular titles, from the Rochdale Observer in the north to the Stockport Express in the south, in all but name.

"The chapel has passed this vote of no confidence in the Scott Trust as we feel these profit-driven decisions threaten the future of quality, independent journalism in the north-west."