Management and unions at Independent Newspapers are to meet next week to discuss redundancy proposals across four of the company's titles. Ronan McGreevyreports.
Members of the National Union of Journalists at the newspaper group expressed serious concern yesterday about the proposals to outsource some page-layout and sub-editing functions, with an initial loss of 34 jobs.
A company set up by two ex-employees of the Independent group, RE and D Ltd, is understood to be preparing to take on the contract to produce the pages, a move expected to lead to significant cost savings.
NUJ Irish secretary Séamus Mr Dooley said the union was opposed in principle to outsourcing and staff had huge operational concerns about the potential impact on editorial quality. There was a range of issues to be discussed with management on Monday.
"We are looking for more specific information about what is on offer and we will be looking for agreement in principle for NUJ recognition in any new operation."
Although the initial proposal is for 34 voluntary redundancies, Independent News and Media (IN&M) management believes a lot more staff will take up a redundancy deal it describes as "generous".
It says that more than 50 staff will qualify for redundancy packages of between €200,000 and €250,000. The company has set aside €17 million - significantly more than is needed for the current redundancy proposals.