'Connaught Telegraph' staff on strike

WORKERS AT one of the oldest newspapers in the country have begun industrial action after a management decision to out-source…

WORKERS AT one of the oldest newspapers in the country have begun industrial action after a management decision to out-source pre-press production work.

Seven staff members of the Connaught Telegraphin Co Mayo look set to lose their jobs with the closure of the department and they have been joined on the picket line by fellow workers.

Their colleagues have joined the picket at their Castlebar base after the seven were offered only statutory redundancy. According to their trade union Unite, job losses can be avoided and they have called on management to reassess its decision. “The closure will mean a break from the local area . . . with those the paper claims it still wants to serve,” said the Unite’s Claire Keane.

Efforts to contact the management of the newspaper were unsuccessful yesterday.