Wage cuts sought at Irish Examiner and Echo

STAFF at the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo are to be asked to take a 10% pay cut from October 1 next.

A meeting is to be held on September 18 in Cork at which company management will update staff on the current trading position of Examiner Publications Cork Limited (EPCL), publishers of the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo.

An update on the deficit in the company’s defined benefit pension scheme and the likely impact on benefits will also be given at this meeting. EPCL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thomas Crosbie Holdings Limited (TCH).

TCH interim chief executive, Tom Murphy, said the newspaper industry globally and nationally is going through difficult times.

“Unfortunately wage reductions are something which have come as a consequence of the current economic climate for ours and a lot of other sectors,” he said.

Mr Murphy said yesterday’s notification to staff was aimed to clearly outline in advance the nature of the September 18 meeting.

Staff at the TCH-owned Sunday Business Post were last month asked to take pay cuts, on top of cuts of between 5% and 8% agreed earlier this year.

Meanwhile, TCH has sold one of its regional newspaper titles, the Newry Democrat, to the Alpha Newspaper Group for an undisclosed sum.

Earlier this week the Alpha Group, owned by former Ulster Unionist MP John Taylor and his family, announced its decision to close the Roscommon Champion, the Longford News and the Athlone Voice regional newspapers.

The sale of the Newry Democrat is subject to approval by the Irish Competition Authority.

The Newry Democrat was part of the TCH group since 2001.