More than 80 journalists to be laid off in Express Newspapers cull (original) (raw)

The Daily Express and Sunday Express are set to axe more than 80 journalists by the end of the year in a plan that could see reporters input copy directly on to pages.

Express Newspapers, the publisher of the titles, has told staff of plans to terminate the contracts of more than half the two papers' permanent staff subeditors, MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned.

It is understood that 36 staff subeditors out of 62 employed on the Daily Express and Sunday Express will leave by the end of the year, as will 33 long-term regular casual subeditors and 17 other casuals.

Express Newspapers management met with representatives of the National Union of Journalists chapel last night.

Employees affected by the changes are to receive a letter to their home address confirming that their job is at risk of redundancy.

Staff at Express Newspapers proprietor Richard Desmond's other national papers, the Daily Star and the Daily Star Sunday, are not affected, nor are employees at the company's subbing centre at Broughton in the north-west and the group's office in Glasgow.

An email sent to staff by the Express Newspapers group managing editor, Ian Parrott, said it was "imperative" that substantial cost savings were made.
"This is the only way we can maintain a viable business able to cope with the problems of the national economy and the credit crunch and its continuing effect on us, the substantial drop in our advertising revenues and the continuing drop in our circulation figures," Parrott wrote to staff.

The Express titles are introducing a new Woodwing editorial system that Parrott said would allow the papers to "revolutionise the way pages are written and edited and therefore reduce costs".

It is understood that Woodwing will allow staff to write some of their stories directly on to pages, rather than send their stories to subeditors first.

Express Newspapers is also understood to want to introduce a five-day working pattern across its newspapers.

Permanent staff are expected to be offered three weeks' salary for every year of service, plus notice pay, or 20 weeks' minimum pay, plus notice, whichever is the greater. This will be capped at £30,000.

Long-term casuals are understood to have been offered two weeks' pay plus a notice period of four weeks.

Express Newspapers has hired a human resources consultant, Peter Jones of Manor Resources, to manage what is the biggest round of layoffs on national titles since the Telegraph Media Group axed 90 workers in 2005 after Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay bought the company for £665m.

The Express Newspapers union chapel is set to meet later today.

Express Newspapers had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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