Tuesday 5 April 2011

NUJ seeks legal advice over Sport Media collapse


The NUJ says it is taking legal advice over the collapse of Sport Media Group, publisher of the Daily and Sunday Sport, after the workforce – including around 25 journalistic staff - were made redundant with no notice.

Administrators were called in last Friday by Sport Media Group. The NUJ says managing director Andrew Fickling told employees this week that the company had run out of money despite desperate attempts to keep it afloat.

The collapse leaves workers with no immediate income and will mean claims will have to be made to the government to secure rights to statutory payments including redundancy, lost wages, notice payment and holidays.

However, the NUJ says it is now investigating the possibility of lodging employment tribunal claims for NUJ members for a protective award to compensate them for the lack of consultation surrounding the loss of their jobs.

In addition, the union is appealing for freelance members who may be owed money to contact the NUJ so that their claims can be pursued with the administrators now in charge of the company’s affairs.

Manchester-based NUJ negotiator Lawrence Shaw said: “We are determined that we will fight to get the best possible outcome from the wreckage for NUJ members. We demand a full investigation into what provoked the company’s failure.”

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