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Edinburgh loses Scotland's
oldest publishing company to
London: a Hachette job.
James Irvine
Editor: www.land-care.org.uk
Filed 20 Sep 09
©www.land-care.org.uk
In what has been described as a Hachette job Scotland’s oldest publishing company is to be asset-stripped by London-based parent company Hachette UK
Edinburgh publishing company Chambers Harrap, publisher of respected titles such as The Chambers Dictionary (first published 1901), and the Chambers Biographical Dictionary (first published 1897), is to be closed by its London-based parent company Hachette UK. The decision will see profitable titles transferred to London and Paris, and the closure of the company’s Edinburgh offices by the end of the year, with the loss of 27 jobs.
According to a Press Release by the National Union of Journalists Scottish Office,
"Hachette UK management claims to be consulting staff about 'proposed' redundancies, but this is a 30-day formality required by law, and staff believe the decision was taken months ago after a review of the business conducted without the knowledge of Edinburgh management. French-English dictionaries and other foreign-language reference works will be transferred to Paris-based Larousse (also part of the Europe-wide Hachette group), and profitable English-language titles (like The Chambers Dictionary) will be transferred to Hachette UK in London."
Hachette have justified the decision to transfer major titles to France because “the vast majority of sales for Harrap are in France”. However, this has been true since at least 1992, when Chambers acquired Harrap, and four successful editions of the flagship Shorter French Dictionary have been produced from Edinburgh since then. It remains a market leader in France, and therefore a very attractive acquisition for Larousse.
The Chambers Dictionary is a favourite resource of crossword fans and word-lovers in general, and has been endorsed by Philip Pullman as “the most human of dictionaries”. The 11th edition, published in 2008 with a preface by Jeremy Paxman, continues to sell well, and would be a nice earner for Hachette."
In a press statement released on Tuesday, Hachette UK state that they “have enormous respect for the reputation” of the Chambers and Harrap imprints, and that “the skill and experience of the staff … is admired throughout the industry”. Maybe so, but the staff themselves believe that the rich pickings to be had by axing the Edinburgh company have been too tempting for Hachette and Larousse.
The members of the Chambers Harrap NUJ chapel do not believe the company needs to shut, and Hachette has certainly not presented a convincing case – or indeed any coherent case at all – why this is necessary.
It would appear that the actions of Hathete do indeed amount to a blatant asset-stripping exercise, which would put an end to 190 years of Edinburgh publishing tradition.
Paul Holleran, NUJ Scottish Organiser said:
“The NUJ is shocked at the way this company is going about dismantling a famous and successful Scottish publisher and we will be pursuing every avenue to try to keep these jobs in Scotland.”
Edinburgh has had a long tradition of being to the fore in both publishing and printing. Sadly it has lost much of both. Scotland, after the banks debacle, desperately needs to build on what remains of its industry: not to continue losing it.
©www.land-care.org.uk
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