140 editorial jobs go by end 2008

More than half the cuts will be in Europe while the rest will be scattered, he said.

At the same time Reuters will add about 50 new jobs in growth areas making for 2,500 editorial employees by year’s end.

“When two similar and once competing organisations come together, there is natural overlap and duplication in coverage,” Schlesinger told staff in a memo.

“Wherever possible, we have worked to minimize job losses and to avoid redundancy by moving people into new roles and cancelling open posts that don’t fit within the new organisation,” he added.

The National Union of Journalists said it had not ruled out a strike but would negotiate with the company first.

“The NUJ has been pressing hard to have any job cuts carried out through voluntary redundancies and will continue to do so,” said Myra MacDonald, Mother of the NUJ Chapel in London.

A BBC report said Thomson Reuters could lose about 1,500 jobs from its 50,000-strong payroll in total. The company is cutting as many as 650 jobs in its content, technology and operations division. ■