(Bloomberg) -- Journalists at the London Evening Standard have asked senior managers to take a pay cut as bosses prepare to eliminate jobs and stop printing the nearly 200-year-old title’s daily newspaper.
Staff, who are going through a consultation process that puts more than 80 editorial roles at risk, asked managers to take a 20% pay cut for the next few months to help save money, according to a summary of a Tuesday meeting that was seen by Bloomberg. Those managers include Editor in Chief Dylan Jones, according to people familiar with the journalists’ demands. Interim Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Kanareck already took a previously undisclosed pay cut in May after the plans were announced, one of the people said.
The paper, controlled by Russia-born tycoon Evgeny Lebedev, announced in May that it would switch to a weekly print edition following a tough period for free UK newspapers.
The Evening Standard, handed out at bus and train stations across the city, was once a staple of the London commute. Circulation soared after the newspaper turned free in 2009 under Lebedev’s ownership, regularly printing more than 1 million copies a day. However, readership collapsed in recent years, which executives blamed on home working and widespread Wi-Fi on London trains.
A representative for the Evening Standard declined to comment on the points discussed at the meeting.
Journalists who are made redundant will receive the statutory minimum of between half a week and one-and-a-half week’s pay for each full year worked at the company, depending on their age, capped at £21,000 ($27,300), according to terms that were sent to at-risk staff and seen by Bloomberg. Those who accept voluntary redundancy will receive only slightly better terms.
At an earlier meeting led by Kanareck, a former Guardian Media Group executive, staff expressed anger at the amount being offered in redundancy, according to the memo.
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