Staff at two Irish newspapers have been told they must accept a 10% pay cut and a possible 50% cut in their pensions.
More than 300 employees of the Cork-based Irish Examiner and Evening Echowere told of the plan by the publishers, Thomas Crosbie Holdings, at a weekend briefing by managers.
They were told there was a €20m (£16.7m) deficit in the company's defined-benefit pension fund. This derived mainly from poor investment performance.
A management statement said: "The company believes that pay cuts are now essential to protect the future of the business."
In February 2009, Examiner staff were given a pay freeze and offered a series of voluntary alternative working structures.
The Examiner's sale has been falling in recent years. According to the latest ABC figures, as I reported last month, its sale for the first half of 2010 dropped by 7.3% to 46,687.
Source: Irish Times
