Newspaper publisher Wegener to cut 300 jobs: Union

Newspaper concern Wegener, which is being taken over by De Persgroep from Belgium, expects to eliminate around 300 jobs at its regional newspapers. This was announced yesterday by Bernard van Iren of trade union FNV KIEM. "These are the numbers I've heard in discussions over a social plan. Where, how and when is still unknown." the union official said. According to Van Iren, De Persgroep is a financially healthy company, which makes it unnecessary to drop forced redundancies. The jobs are eliminated by the announced reorganization. Wegener is forced to reorganize due to declining advertising revenues and a decreasing number of subscriptions. These cutbacks should produce about 50 million euro in 2014. Yesterday NDC Mediagroep also announced that 105 of its employees will be laid off.