49 media people laid off at OCM group

SOME 49 employees of One Caribbean Media's subsidiaries CCN, Trinidad Express and TV6 have been served retrenchment letters this week.

Group CEO Dawn Thomas made the announcement on Wednesday, saying the move was both part of a restructuring exercise undertaken by the company and a result of declining revenues in recent years.

The workers' respective union representatives and the Ministry of Labour have also been notified.

In her statement, Thomas wrote, "The media industry has been going through fundamental changes mainly due to technological developments in the digital space.

"Additionally, the economic environment has been challenging and in decline for several years."

She said these factors have negatively affected its advertising revenues as clients have cut their advertising and marketing budgets "as they too struggle with a decline in their business performance.

She said before the retrenchments, the management team “explored all possible actions during its restructuring exercise including cost reduction measures in all areas."

Newsday recently spoke with Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union president Mario Als, who held discussions with the conglomerate ahead of the move. The union members affected worked in the editorial, marketing, dispatch and mailing departments.

Thomas said earlier this week that OCM subsidiaries in Barbados had been restructured between 2017 and 2018, so they and the group’s Grenadian media subsidiaries are not affected by this new move.