Trinity journalists threaten action over closures fear

by Sara Kimberley, mediaweek.co.uk 30-Jun-09, 15:55

LONDON - About 150 Trinity Mirror journalists are to vote on strike action, following claims the publisher is to close several Midlands titles.

The NUJ said the ballot for industrial action comes in response to what it termed "the company's failure to rule out job cuts and changes to their papers". The journalists concerned are members of the NUJ chapels at the Birmingham Post and Mail, Coventry Newspapers and Trinity Mirror Midlands Weeklies.

The union claimed last week that Trinity Mirror plans to close eight weekly titles, scale back the frequency of the daily Birmingham Post and turn the evening Birmingham Mail into an overnight paper.

The union added that members of all three chapels agreed to ballot when the company refused to guarantee to rule out the changes or compulsory redundancies as a result.

In response, a Trinity Mirror spokesman, said: "We are very disappointed the NUJ has chosen this course of action, without even engaging with us in our agreed dispute resolution procedures.

"It is highly irresponsible and does absolutely nothing to address the very real issues facing our Midlands businesses, and puts into stark perspective their recent claims to be working constructively with us."

The spokesman added: "They would do better to start acknowledging the true scale of the commercial challenges facing newspaper businesses and be prepared to have meaningful discussions with us."