Indy staff vote for action on job cuts

Independent journalists have voted to hold a ballot for industrial action over job cuts.
At an NUJ chapel meeting today, attended by more than 130 members and with some voting by proxy, more than 90 per cent backed the call for a ballot.
The NUJ fears that up to 35 journalists on the Independent and Independent on Sunday face compulsory redundancy. Management proposed last November that 90 jobs should go, around 60 of which were in editorial. The union says 50 have applied for voluntary redundancy but the company has accepted only 34 of those applications
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “Independent journalists feel there is no plan or vision about how to take the papers and websites forward with a much smaller staff. People who want to go will be forced to stay and staff wishing to stay will be forced to leave. This is a recipe for widespread demoralisation and makes no business sense.
"Those staff remaining have many concerns, including the effect on the quality of their journalism, and health and safety.”
At the Independent’s sister titles in Dublin journalists have been concerned by plans to replace a pay rise with a share issue.