Death by a thousand cuts: NUJ asks Johnston Press chief 'Where's your plan?'

The NUJ wants an urgent meeting with Johnston Press chief John Fry after more journalists within the group - this time in Halifax - joined their Johnston colleagues in Leeds and East Lancashire by balloting for industrial action over job cuts.
The Halifax journalists, who work on the Halifax Courier, Brighouse Echo, Hebden Bridge Times and Todmorden News agreed to a ballot after management refused to rule out compulsory redundancies and the imposition of reduced redundancy terms.
Chris Morley, NUJ northern organiser, said: “Journalists are telling the company that their policy of death by a thousand cuts is not acceptable at these newspapers and websites which have a historical role at the heart of their communities."
Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “In Derry and East Lancashire Johnston Press journalists voted 100 percent in favour of industrial action of some sort. In Leeds they voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.
“It is clear that the company policy of slash and burn with no apparent plan for the future has been rejected wholesale by their employees across Britain and Ireland.
“We demand – on behalf of Johnston Press journalists - an urgent meeting with chief executive John Fry to hear the company’s ideas for the future. If they won't give guarantees about quality journalism they should get out of the industry and sell their much-loved titles to someone who will.”