APPLICATIONS for voluntary redundancy are being sought in the advertising sales department of newspaper publisher, News International’s Scottish operation.
The 30-strong team have been issued details of posts facing redundancy, though the exact number under threat has not been officially disclosed. allmediascotland understands more than half the posts will avoid being cut. Staff are now involved in a period of consultation.
Early last month, the editorial staff at one of the company’s titles – the Sunday Times Scotland – were told that only a handful of their posts would survive being axed. Staying on from an original complement of around 16 are Jason Allardyce, as political correspondent; Mark Macaskill, as news reporter; Douglas Alexander, as sports correspondent; and Gillian Bowditch, as columnist.
The previous month, it had been announced that Manchester-based Sandra Tinker had been appointed sales regional director with responsibilities including the Scottish operation. The announcement was that the general manager of News International Scotland, Steven Walker, was about to step down from his post and that sales director, Elaine Ward-Fincham had already gone, with marketing director, Sean Duffy, also departing.
There is bound to be speculation that any resulting savings may require to be directed towards fighting back against the recently reduced cover prices of the Scottish Daily Express (20p) and the Scottish Daily Mail (20p in the West of Scotland) and an anticipated cut in the cover price of the Daily Star of Scotland, to 10p, from the first of next month.
