A vote of no confidence has been taken against PA Media’s new Editor-in-Chief, Jack Lefley.
The former Managing Editor of The Standard, joined the group earlier this year and a few months later PA Media announced plans to restructure the editorial team, putting 74 members of its UK content team at risk of redundancy, with a target of cutting up to 25 jobs.
NUJ says its members voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of a motion of no confidence in his leadership, following an indicative ballot in favour of industrial action – short of a strike – if the restructuring plans continued.
A statement from the NUJ PA Chapel said its members had expressed “shock and dismay at the proposal affecting around a quarter of the workforce”, which they feared, “would harm the fabric of the 157-year-old news agency renowned for its fast, fair and accurate content.”
“We warned these cuts would put an intolerable strain on remaining staff, affect the quality of the wire, damage PA’s reputation and diminish the unique position it holds within the UK and Ireland’s media landscape,” continued the statement.
While PA Media’s head office is in London, it has operations in Howden, East Yorkshire; Glasgow; and Edinburgh.
READ MORE – PA Media editorial staff edge closer to union recognition
“Rather than cherishing our experienced and skilled staff, the management have pressed on with an ill-conceived process in which 17 colleagues have been forced to accept voluntary redundancy on terms that are well below the industry standard – or face the prospect of compulsory redundancy,” said the Chapel.
“The Chapel is angered at what they regard as the cavalier way this has been undertaken, effectively hollowing out the agency of some of its best and most productive staff.
“We further note that the management’s vision to remodel the agency according to what they claim customers want – at odds with extensive feedback gathered by the Chapel – has failed to materialise.
“Some newly-created roles remain vacant, while alarming gaps have appeared in key positions as valued colleagues have voted with their feet by leaving roles they say are now untenable. The blow to staff morale is incalculable.”
It stated that it had taken the vote of no confident because “Jack Lefley has repeatedly maintained that he takes ‘100%’ responsibility for the management’s plan. Accordingly, the Chapel has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion of no confidence in his leadership as editor-in-chief at PA Media.”
NUJ General Secretary Laura Davison added:
“The strength of feeling from our chapel at PA is very clear. As the process has gone on members have become more angry and frustrated at the approach and potential impact of these damaging cuts. The editorial workforce is the company’s core asset and it’s clear that swift and significant efforts need to be made to rebuild relationships and re-assess the company’s strategy.”
Writing for PA Media a month after his appointment, Lefley said that one of the key challenges was the shifting news landscape.
“In a world where trusted real-time information is at a premium, PA’s hard-won reputation for speed and accuracy, along with our teams of journalists on the ground, put us in a strong position for sustained success.
He added that the organisation needed to “innovate to get ahead of the game.”
“Ultimately, we need to ensure that we are delivering great content in the formats our customers need and their audiences want. I’m focused on achieving that partly through smarter use of data in our day-to-day decision making.
“There will be ways we can better use AI to free up our journalists to do their most impactful work.”
PA Media said that the proposal to change its editorial operations was “to meet customer needs” adding: “It is always regrettable putting roles at risk and we are working with stakeholders to minimise the impact on our people as far as possible.”
