Steve Sibbald, national officer, Unite "I spoke to a very important UK employer recently and he told me he was looking forward to a time when he can start offering pay rises. Of course we are looking forward to being in a position to bargain for better increases again. The only worry we have is that, when we get back to a time where there are magazines being launched every week, like the mid-90s, there is going to be a shortage of skilled labour to handle the extra work because those people leaving places like Wyndeham Plymouth will not stay in print."
Tim Weller, chief executive, Incisive Media "There will always be alternatives, but as capacity closes, publishers’ ability to shop around will decline. I think the day has come when printers will have to raise prices to survive and be able to invest in their businesses. It’s what we’ve already seen happen in gravure, where there is certainly a realisation that you have to have inflationary price rises built into your contracts. It’s also important to look at the financial strength of printers, given that publishers want security and certainty."
Jasper Scott, manufacturing director, IPC Media "IPC’s attitude has been that we need to support our major printers by signing long-term contractual agreements – that’s been our demonstration of faith in those particular companies. In doing so, along with a number of other publishers, I think that we have done our best to secure the future of companies such as Wyndeham and Polestar. If there are other publishers around who have gone for short-term arrangements and been happy to play one company against another, then they may find themselves in a fairly difficult situation."
Steve Sibbald, national officer, Unite "I spoke to a very important UK employer recently and he told me he was looking forward to a time when he can start offering pay rises. Of course we are looking forward to being in a position to bargain for better increases again. The only worry we have is that, when we get back to a time where there are magazines being launched every week, like the mid-90s, there is going to be a shortage of skilled labour to handle the extra work because those people leaving places like Wyndeham Plymouth will not stay in print."
Tim Weller, chief executive, Incisive Media "There will always be alternatives, but as capacity closes, publishers’ ability to shop around will decline. I think the day has come when printers will have to raise prices to survive and be able to invest in their businesses. It’s what we’ve already seen happen in gravure, where there is certainly a realisation that you have to have inflationary price rises built into your contracts. It’s also important to look at the financial strength of printers, given that publishers want security and certainty."
Jasper Scott, manufacturing director, IPC Media "IPC’s attitude has been that we need to support our major printers by signing long-term contractual agreements – that’s been our demonstration of faith in those particular companies. In doing so, along with a number of other publishers, I think that we have done our best to secure the future of companies such as Wyndeham and Polestar. If there are other publishers around who have gone for short-term arrangements and been happy to play one company against another, then they may find themselves in a fairly difficult situation."
