Breaking news – noon: STRIKE action at the Herald group of newspapers has been called off, following an agreement over proposed redundancies.
Members of the National Union of Journalists returned to work half an hour ago, when management agreed that a member of staff, at the Evening Times, was no longer facing compulsory redundancy.
Early this morning, staff at the Evening Times had begun an one-day walk-out, while colleagues at sister title, the Sunday Herald, were about to embark on a two-day walk-out, which was expected to severely disrupt work on a new look for the paper, being launched this weekend.
The NUJ says it has received assurances that, if there are to be redundancies in the future (and the group is looking for a budget cut of upto three million pounds), they will be structured only along voluntary, early retirement or re-training lines.
The Scottish Organiser of the NUJ, Paul Holleran, is expected to meet Tim Blott, MD of the Herald group, on Tuesday, to begin discussions on the group’s future plans, including the implementation of new production technology.
