Brum journalists to Bailey: 'No confidence in Trinity's management of its regional titles'

NUJ members at Trinity Mirror in Birmingham have unanimously passed a no confidence motion in the company’s management of its regional titles.
The motion was agreed by the chapels covering the Birmingham Post, Mail, Sunday Mercury and Midlands Weekly Media. They are already balloting for industrial action – along with colleagues in Coventry – over job cuts and closures of weekly papers.
The Birmingham chapels have included the motion of no confidence in a letter to Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey. It says:
"Dear Ms Bailey, The Birmingham and Midlands NUJ Chapels find ourselves in dispute with the company over cuts and redundancies. Regretfully the unanimous view of members is that while some difficulties are expected in a recession, the successive assaults on this business goes way beyond that and in fact continue a trend of cutbacks which began long before the economic downturn.
Therefore the BPM Media and Midlands Weekly Media chapels have unanimously backed a proposal from the floor for a vote of no confidence in Trinity Mirror's management of its regional titles. "
The motion states: "Journalists, already having recently suffered a major round of redundancies. massive structural change and being the testing ground for new, unproven IT systems, have responded to these greater workloads and longer hours, with professionalism and much good will to ensure deadlines are met and quality is maintained
"This has been thrown back in their faces and they have been betrayed by a management with a single aim - the pursuit of short term profit through cost reduction, asset sale and redundancy. This one-trick pony has no plan for the future and no concept of how to grow the local news, advertising and publishing business.
"Under this management we fear that within a few years there will be no Birmingham Post, Mail, Mercury and weeklies. Titles which have served communities and made profits for decades in the face of recession, depression, war, the advent of radio, television and recently the internet, are either being closed now or are in immediate danger if the present policy of cut, cut, cut continues.
"The company has accused the union of ignoring the disputes procedure in immediately calling a ballot for industrial action in the face of these cuts. However, the company broke its agreements with the recognised unions in imposing a pay freeze without negotiation or consultation at the start of this year.
"We believe closing titles such as the Walsall Observer, which has been published for more than 150 years, and proposals we believe are being considered to cut publication of the Birmingham Post and stop same day publication of the Birmingham Mail are reckless and negligent as it sends out the message that this company is failing and will scare advertisers away."