Scots are backing the Record
NUJ MEMBERS at the Glasgow-based Daily Record and Sunday Mail were holding a three-day strike as the Journalist went to press. They had already taken four days of action over the company’s plan to make 24 of their colleagues redundant.
The NUJ chapel is also holding a new ballot to widen the scope of its action to cover the reorganisation of the Trinity Mirror papers and changes to working conditions.
The journalists have won massive public backing across the political spectrum in Scotland, with the Parliament voting by 82 votes to 13 to call on Trinity Mirror managers to “listen to reason” and talk to the union before redundancies go ahead.
The motion was proposed by former Record journalist David Whitton, now a Labour MSP. He said: “The attitude of the management at the papers has been despicable.” Similar votes of support have come from the Scottish National Party’s spring conference and the Scottish TUC.
Paul Holleran, the NUJ Scottish organiser, told the STUC: “These are not loss making companies. The Daily Record and Sunday Mail have made in excess of £20 million profit a year. This dispute is about jobs but also about the quality of newspapers — these directors have driven down and sacrificed quality journalism by making huge cuts in search of further profit.”