Striking Yorkshire journalists present petition to Johnston Press
Johnston Press boss John Fry has been ambushed by a group of irate journalists from the South Yorkshire region in a bitter dispute over cutbacks.
Fry was presented by the petition, signed by nearly 3,000 readers, as he attended a group financial meeting in London.
At the front porch of this meeting Fry was intercepted by sacked South Yorkshire Times editor Jim Oldfield who has been backing an indefinite strike across the region.
NUJ members from the Times – and its sister titles Doncaster Free Press, Selby Times and Epworth Bells, have been angered by recent job cuts, office closures and increased workloads.
They accuse the publisher of “inept management” and profiteering with Fry himself set to depart the firm next October having pocketed £1.2m per annum.
NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “Thousands of readers in South Yorkshire are appalled at what’s happened to their local papers under his (John Fry) watch.
"If quality journalism is as important to him as he said to us outside the Johnston financial meeting, John Fry needs to get his journalists back in work and doing what they do best, serving their communities. That can’t happen until common sense prevails and a commitment to meaningful talks is made.”
Johnston press has been hit by a 7.5% slide in revenue to £191.8m so far this year, prompting it to initiate a cost savings package across its titles.