The butchers are at work

I HAVE BEEN a member of the NUJ since starting as a journalist six years ago and have never needed the support of the union as much as now, as so many colleagues face redundancy so Newsquest can keep sending big pots of cash to America.

Our profession is being butchered for the sake of money. No one seems to care that if you cut the number of highly trained and experienced staff the quality of the editorial will go down as fewer people must do more work for less money than a binman gets. This will lead to a further drop in circulation as, let’s face it, who wants to spend 60p a week or 40p a day on a rag?

I love my job; it is all I ever wanted to do. I do it for peanuts because I love writing, I believe in obtaining the truth and care about the community I write for. I also have a mortgage and bills to pay and I need a job to do that.

The way the industry is going at the moment, if I lose my job I can’t see that I would have a chance of getting another reporting post as no one is hiring. That’s why I’ve asked for my name to be left off the letter. This union needs to unite in one big force across the country, to stand up, be counted, take the fight right to the money-grabbing bosses and say we are not going to be treated like this.

I am happy to fly my colours with this banner if the union will raise it.

Name withheld by agreement