Employees of The Hindu’s Mumbai edition seek clarity from management on employment status
You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5
On 21 June 2020, 20 employees of The Hindu’s Mumbai edition sought clarity on their employment status in a letter sent to the members of The Hindu Publishing Group Broad.
On 19 June 2020, employees across various editions, bureaus and verticals of The Hindu were informally asked to tender their resignations in exchange for three months pay as severance or risk being terminated. Employees were informed of this on the phone. There was no written communication from the company.
Avoiding written communication is a standard tactic used by news organisations to lay off journalists in India. In the absence of any written communication from the company and after obtaining resignation letters from employees, companies claim they did not lay off employees. The tactic was employed by The Times of India, The Telegraph, Hindustan Times and others recently, while laying off journalists.
In the absence of a written communication from The Hindu, the letter sent on 21 June seeks clarity on the employment status of the effected journalists.
The letter is pasted below in its entirety:
June 21, 2020
To,
Mr. Ram Narasimhan
Dr. Malini Parthasarathy
Ms. Nirmala Lakshman
Ms. Nalini Krishnan
Mr. Murali Narasimhan
Mr. Ravi Narasimhan
Mr. Venugopal K
Ms. Aparna Ravi
Mr. Rohit Ramesh
Mr. Prithvi Arun
Ms. Divya Venugopal
Ms. Akhila Iyengar
Ms. Malavika Nataraj
Mr. Mahalingam Seturaman
Mr. Melarkode Ganesan Parameswaran
Mr. Vishal Vijay
Ms. Lakshmi Srinath
Mr. Narayan Lakshman
Other members of The Hindu Publishing Group board
Mr. Suresh Nambath, Editor, The Hindu
Mr. L.V. Navaneeth, CEO of The Hindu Publishing Group
Dear Madams/Sirs,
This is regarding our (the undersigneds’) collective concern at social
media posts and word-of-mouth speculation about The Hindu’s
Mumbai edition shutting down and the loss of several jobs at The
Hindu in Chennai and other locations as well. Here is one such
reference by journalist KrishnaPrasad. Another by NewsLaundry.
And this one on Medium.
https://indianjournalismreview.com/2020/06/19/the-hindu-virtually-
sounds-the-death-knell-for-its-mumbai-edition-tells-25-elite-staffers-
to-leave-as-covid-wreaks-havoc-to-revenue-streams/
https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/06/20/the-hindu-lays-off-20-
employees-from-its-mumbai-bureau
https://medium.com/news-covid19/lay-offs-and-cutbacks-in-indian-
newsrooms-2020-what-we-know-bdba9dec1644
Reports such as these have been circulating since the morning of June
19. Several of us have also been contacted by other news
organisations seeking clarification on the same. But since, we have
had no official intimation of the same, none of us have commented
yet.
All the undersigned have doubled-up on efforts to work to the best of
our abilities during the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic; often
putting ourselves and our families at risk. The Mumbai edition, which
launched on November 28, 2015, has built up a strong team across —
politics, business, features, cinema, photo and design — with credibility in all the respective industries. All of us have co-dependents in our lives and are the primary breadwinners in our households — with life partners, elderly parents and young children to look after. Not to forget, we are in the midst of a global pandemic and have been frightened by the thought of losing our jobs. On April 14, we received a reassuring note from the HR department appreciating
our work during lockdown times. On April 25, came the note from
our CEO on salary cuts, effective from the April 2020 salary onwards.
In light of the speculation surrounding layoffs and the closure of the
Mumbai edition, we request you for clarity. For all of us, what is of
primary importance is our job security. Each one of us undersigned
takes great pride in our work and feels that our values are aligned with
140-year-old The Hindu’s sense of integrity and ethics. We seek
written clarity about the future of the Mumbai edition as well as the
positions we all currently hold.
All of the undersigned wanted to work at The Hindu, as it has been
considered the ideal workplace for Indian journalists, in fact — where
journalists are well respected and editorial freedoms are a given. The
principles on which The Hindu has operated in the past is what should
apply to us as a team now. For a news organisation that prides itself
on reporting labour laws and violations of the same — in a robust
manner — we appeal to you to clarify the situation to us in writing.
Sincerely,
20 signatories, with six names being withheld from publication for
privacy issues
- Deborah Jacob George Cornelious, Assistant Editor
2. Sharad Vyas, Deputy Editor
3. Piyush Pandey, Corporate Editor
4. Gautam S. Mengle, Special Correspondent
5. Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury, Chief Photographer
6. Sudarshan V, Senior Associate Editor
7. Namrata Joshi, Associate Editor
8. Aditya Anand, Deputy Editor
9. Gauri Vij, Associate Editor
10. Ashish Rukhaiyar, Markets Editor
11. Tanvi Deshpande, Senior Correspondent
12. Manojit Saha, Deputy Editor
13. Prashant Nakwe, Photo Editor
14. Ajeet Mahale, Reporter
