Cuts to come?
Dennis Hackett
There is little good news in Fleet :Street these days. Some managements make bravura statements about long-term survival and a vigorous future, but these are in the way of keeping up a false good cheer: there's naught in them for long-terra comfort.
The Beaverbrook Group has no'' informed its chapels in London, Manche' ter and Glasgow, that it wants a 20 per cent reduction in its editorial staff and has wrapped this up in a salary proposal that has two implicit disadvantages whiell suggest it won't get far without a figbi* that could involve other papers. The first disadvantage is that it i5 directly opposed to the policy of the, National Union of Journalists. They do OA' intend to discuss salary changes all," redundancy at once — an understandable rejection of carrot-and-stick negotiatioe that is as transparent as it is archaic. The second, is that the BeaverbrooK proposal is out of tune with tile
proprietors' own policy which eschews house agreements. It might be thought that, following its surrender on the Common Market issue, the Beaverbrook Group is standing down the troops but such is not the case. They need the money.
The group seeks to cut its staff by 126 — fifty-five of them by early retirement (twenty-five in London, sixteen in Manchester and fourteen in Glasgow) and a further seventy-one (twenty in London, nineteen in Manchester and thirty-two in Glasgow) who, it is proposed, might make the ultimate patriotic gesture and "volunteer to leave the company." If, of course, the latter don't see it that way, compulsory notices will follow.
It's not a move remarkable for its finesse but it will be watched with interest — particularly by IPC, who have their own staffing problems. They may not approve the method, but they will certainly agree with the spirit.
For, when revenue can only be increased by price increases, cost-cutting has to be the order of the day. SSaga heads, longaccustomed to gathering wisdom after the event, will nod in boardrooms and top secret projections on an ' if only' basis will be studied.
It is, of course, surprising in view of Fleet Street's dynamic, far-seeing management, that some staffs got so big in the first place. It is also certain that these cuts alone, even if agreed, would be insufficient to maintain the Beaverbrook Group in the style to which it has become accustomed. They could save more than £500,000 in salaries this way, though this would be offset initially by redundancy payments. But that is not enough.
The Mail, which has cut both its staff and its size, will be watching. Continuing circulation erosion is an urgent problem for them.
There is still a lot of sense in that marriage between Mail and Express and Evening News and Standard. The Express's plant could be used all day long, there would be staff savings, property gains and a more optimistic future. But those dynastic vanities are in the way. Who would be chairman? Sir Max or Mr Harmsworth? What would the name be? And so on.
These are emotional considerations but, of course, real for all that. Though there comes a time when economics will win over emotion. The question is not whether but when. The deal is ultimately likely and Mr Murdoch may act as midwife.
Meanwhile, lower down, where people must worry about their jobs, rather than vanities, all ' this is no help. Fleet Street has never bred a feeling of contentment and security among its staffs. I commend to those interested in their own symptoms, a study of Jeremy Tunstall's latest book in the 'Communication and Society' series -Journalists at Work (Constable, £3.50 but allowable for tax deduction I would think). Mr Tunstall makes the point that few Journalists have more than a limited knowledge of their industry outside their Particular area. He's right, of course, and he has done a good educational job over the field. Anyone who keeps an eye on business must realise that management is too important a job to be left to managers alone. Those who intend to stick around for the kill should start learning at once.
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