A deadline for volunteers to take redundancy at the Herald & Times Group of newspapers has been extended by a week, amid speculation that no-one has yet applied.
Up to ten editorial posts at The Herald and sister titles, the Sunday Herald and Evening Times, have been earmarked for redundancy, but the Scottish Organiser of the National Union of Journalists, Paul Holleran, says he suspects no-one has yet applied for voluntary redundancy, because of the terms on offer.
The deadline was meant to be tomorrow; it is now a week tomorrow.
He told allmediascotland.com: “It's possible that someone has offered to take voluntary redundancy and we don't know about it, but that would be rare. I've heard that four people asked to look at what was on offer and at least three didn't like the numbers they saw.”
Holleran told almost 200 people at a massed, chapel meeting yesterday that the terms on offer – the minimum statutory redundancy – was being dictated by the Herald & Times' UK-wide parent company, Newsquest, and that “there was no room for manoeuvre”.
Previous redundancy packages have been 'enhanced'.
