AS reported as breaking news on Friday, late afternoon, the Daily Record and Sunday Mail are together facing strike action at the end of this week, following a ballot of its staff who are members of the National Union of Journalists.
The ballot was called amid concerns about job losses at the papers.
Management is seeking to shed 70 out of 271 posts – following merging of the two titles’ production under a single editor-in-chief, Bruce Waddell – and the union fears there will not be enough applicants for voluntary redundancy, thus resulting in possible compulsory redundancies.
From 237 ballot papers issued, 200 were returned. Some 95 per cent of respondents voted for industrial action short of strike action – such as a work to rule – while 85 per cent voted for industrial action including strike action.
In other words, should there be no satisfactory change in position from management, a 24-hour strike will take place from midnight, Friday night, which will affect the production of the Sunday Mail plus the coverage of Saturday football matches for Monday’s Daily Record.
Between any strike action, there would be a work to rule.
Said Paul Holleran, Scottish Organiser of the NUJ: “It just shows the strength of feeling among staff. The line that management is taking flies in the face of a common sense compromise that the [NUJ] chapel has put to them: that they accept the number of volunteers [around 40] that have to been put to them and once the new production system is in place, we could then re-visit the situation, once it’s going smoothly.”
A company spokesperson described the union’s action as “reckless and negligent” and that the company would not be deterred in adapting to the “new media landscape” and current economic conditions.
