AS it seeks a budget cut of between two and three million pounds, the owners of the Herald group of newspapers have begun to inform staff whether they have been successful or not in their applications for voluntary redundancy.
As news of the first approvals began to circulate yesterday evening, it was looking like that production staff were having their applications viewed more favourably than those from writers.
That said, among those whose applications have been denied, they will find themselves wondering whether the desired savings by Newsquest – owners of The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times – can be possibly met without agreeing to all the applications.
Throughout the course of yesterday, a number of individual members of staff were told their fate. With a new production system expected to be set up in September, it may be that proposed job cuts will be phased over a longer period of time than was initially anticipated.
There were unconfirmed reports that the numbers so far given the go-ahead to leave are between six and eight at each of the titles.
Late last night, Spike heard of various names approved for voluntary redundancy, but is still awaiting confirmation. Senior staff at the Sunday Herald magazine are said to been among those being allowed to leave, which could cast doubt over the future of that particular publication.
