The Guardian to make 70 - 100 journalists redundant with only 30 voluntary offers accepted so far
The Guardian, currently aiming to make between 70 and 100 editorial redundancies, has so far received less than 35 voluntary offers, pushing it towards potentially invoking compulsory redundancies.
The newspaper, which lost over £44m last year, is to trim £7m from its journalism wage bill and opened up a redundancy scheme to its workforce of 650 journalists as a result.
The Drum has learned that less than 35 have come forward so far.
Barry Fitzpatrick, deputy general secretary of the NUJ, explained: “The NUJ expects to work with the Guardian Management to solve the problem of the losses but this will not be achieved by compulsory redundancies. There are other causes for these losses which are not solely linked to the headcount of journalists. In fact the quality and success of The Guardian titles relies on the quality of its journalism.”
A Guardian News & Media spokesperson, added: "We are working closely with the NUJ to discuss how the necessary savings can be achieved. We will not be making any further comment at this stage."
It is understood that 30 applications have been accepted for voluntary redundancy by journalists, although the Guardian has eluded that more people may have applied without acceptance.