Job losses at The West Australian and Sunday Times

Jobs will go at The West Australian and Sunday Times in Perth as Anthony De Ceglie calls for voluntary redundancies.

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Jobs will go at The West Australian and Sunday Times newspapers in Perth as newly appointed senior editor Anthony De Ceglie calls for voluntary redundancies as part of an ongoing review of its editorial operations.

De Ceglie, who took the reins in January, told staff that the review has identified some duplication, resulting in the need for staff losses, as reported by The Australian.

“We are continuing to review the company’s operations including the editorial department as part of the evolution to a seven-day-newsroom. In doing this we are finding some processes and teams that work very well. Conversely, we are also seeing that we do have some excess capability,” De Ceglie said in an email that was sent to staff today, which has been seen by The Australian.

“As part of this process, I have decided to put a call out for voluntary redundancies. This will a considered approach as we look at shifting some people from their current roles and altering the make-up of some teams.”

No specific numbers were mentioned in the email, nor have they been discussed with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

De Ceglie said editorial staff at Seven West’s regional mastheads are “currently excluded from this call.”

The job losses come ahead of a move by the newspaper to lock its content behind a paywall later this year.

The West Australian and Sunday Times employ a combined 170 people, but the total rises to 270 after including regional titles and the perthnow.com.au website.

De Ceglie confirmed that the redundancies will fall under an expired enterprise bargaining agreement as a new deal is still being negotiated.

“As you know my door is always open should there be any questions,” he said at the end of his email.

A Seven West spokesman said as the group integrates the two newspapers, perthnow.com.au and thewest.com.au websites “into one team we will likely have too many personnel by removing duplication, so have offered voluntary redundancy.”

Staff have until April 12 to express interest in voluntary redundancy.