He immediately followed this up by sacking 60 website staff. Desmond sold them off to a cowboy company which then declared itself bankrupt, thereby trying to avoid paying any redundancy money. At two union meetings held in the canteen last week 180 staff agreed that enough is enough. The second resolution had only four votes against. Jeremy Dear said it is a long time since there was serious industrial action within the NUJ, so there should be a good amount of money available.
Management are desperate to divide and frustrate any fightback.
We are being encouraged to find out individually what we would be entitled to if we volunteer for redundancy. We are also being told we could leave the building by next week, money in hand, if we apply now. Luckily we know that only a handful of people have taken up this divisive invitation. A good result of the strength of feeling at the chapel meeting was that most people agreed we must act collectively and not be picked off one by one. Even people who say they are tempted by the redundancy money are saying that we must stick together.