Back in December Newsquest announced "250 jobs are to be made 'redundant' despite the Glasgow business making a profit per head of staff of £34,000 last year" on an annual profit of £23.8m according to The Drum. Now freelances are being squeezed by imposition of a new agreement that applies to The Herald (formerly the Glasgow Herald), the Sunday Herald, and the Evening Times, in Scotland.

Rates are predictably dreadful : £90/job "all inclusive" for the extensive rights claimed (ignore the weasel-words "you retain copyright"), £110 for a shift incl. full copyright assignment. Where Newsquest agree to pay mileage on top, it hasn't cost as little as 20p/ml to run a car since about 1980, current rates are 40p-55p/ml for a modest saloon, so this is a hidden subsidy to Newsquest. Also note that the terms apply to material submitted 'on spec' not just commissioned work. 

Freelance Terms and Conditions.
The Herald & Times Group (“the Group”) welcomes content from freelance contributors and this letter sets out our terms and conditions for individual freelancers. Separate agreements apply to agencies. Please sign this letter to accept these terms and return it to us as specified at the end of the letter.
We will pay you for original content (including text, still pictures, audio and/or video) accepted for use in Group and third party publications, databases, archives and other products, in paper, digital, online or any other medium or form (“products”), and delivered as specified in this agreement (together referred to as “content”).
The fee is full payment for the rights described below and includes the cost of delivering the content and customary research and reporting expenses. We need to approve any additional expenses or payments in advance.
This agreement is valid from July 1, 2009. It will apply to you from the date you sign the agreement to all the work you do for us, but it will not apply retrospectively to work you have done for us before then. Our rates of pay will vary from time to time and you will be paid at the rate set out in the rate card which is current at the time of our acceptance of the work. The rate card current at the date of this agreement is annexed below. Rates will be reviewed twice a year. By your signature below, you agree as follows:
1. Content
Where you offer us content or we ask you to provide content, the copyright remains yours but in return for the fee you give us an irrevocable licence worldwide to edit, reproduce, publish, display, communicate, broadcast, distribute, store and otherwise use and re-use the content, including derivative works created from it, at any time during the full period of copyright in law (together with any extensions, renewals or revivals) in any language and in any medium or form (existing now or developed later), including print, digital and online, and to allow other persons to do any of the foregoing, for the following purposes:
i. The exclusive use of the content in all Group products beginning on the date you deliver the content to us and ending 24 hours after we first use the content in one of our products or if we fail to use the content within 30 days from the date you deliver it to us. (We recognise that exceptionally there may be events where freelance contributors feel it is not appropriate to give us exclusive rights, so if in advance you ask, and a commissioning editor agrees, our rights will be non-exclusive from the start).
ii. When the exclusive period ends, the non-exclusive use of the content in all Group products.
iii. Syndication or spot sale of the content (directly or through agents) for reproduction by third parties after use in a Group product, provided that we will pay you 50 per cent of the revenue received by us after deduction of our necessary incidental costs. (If you prefer that we do not syndicate the content, you can advise us in advance and we will not do so).
iv. Licensing (directly or through agents) private individual or internal business use and the Newspaper Licensing Agency for all its licensed purposes.
v. Licensing storage and use of the content in searchable databases and archives (including websites and CD-Roms) published by third parties.
2. Shifts.
Where you produce content while you are hired to do shift work for the Group, you assign to us absolutely all copyright and other rights in the content you produce (including rights of action) worldwide in any language and in any medium or form (existing now or developed later), including print, digital and online, for the full period of such rights in law (together with any extensions, renewals or revivals).
3. Variation
We can vary these terms by mutual agreement in writing before acceptance of any content, but terms that are not so varied continue to apply.
4. Standards and moral rights For freelance or shift work:
i. You will produce the content to the highest professional and ethical standards and comply with the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice.
ii. We may reject content that does not achieve (in our reasonable opinion) a suitable standard.
iii. You confirm that you will take all reasonable care to ensure that: a) publication of the content will not be defamatory or libellous, in breach of confidence or otherwise illegal; b) the content is your own original work of which you have sole ownership and has not been previously published in whole or part (unless you have disclosed otherwise to us before our acceptance of it); and c) publication under this agreement will not infringe the copyright or other right of any third party.
iv. You will co-operate fully with us if there is a complaint in connection with the content.
v. Should the content contain any material requiring consent for inclusion, you agree to get this consent before we use the content.
vi. You acknowledge that as a matter of law moral rights do not arise in connection with current affairs reporting or any publication in newspapers or magazines, but to the extent that moral rights may be applicable to any use of content under this agreement you waive them unless otherwise agreed in writing between us.
5. Self-employed
You confirm that you are an independent self-employed contractor and we will not be liable for any of your actions or failures in connection with the content you submit. You are solely responsible for payment of all your taxes and national insurance and are not entitled to any pension or other benefit offered to our employees.
6. Publicity
The Group and our licensees may use the content, your name, likeness and/or biographical information for advertising or promotional purposes.
7. General
Where the word ‘including’ is used in this agreement, it is deemed to be followed by the words ‘without limitation’. This agreement is subject to Scots Law and the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts. I accept the above terms and conditions.
Signed ……………………………… Print name ………………………………… Date……………..
ANNEX RATE CARD A.
PAYMENTS – MINIMUM RATES
Published or ordered news and sports stories: Up to 100 words £10 Thereafter per word 8p Sports Match Reports £30 Arts reviews £25 Features By agreement (within current Herald & Times Group parameters and budgets).
B. SHIFT Payments
We will pay: - £115 for a shift where you primarily report or sub-edit, - £130 for a shift where you primarily provide still or video pictures, - £140 for a shift where you primarily work on the group multimedia desk. We will make a pro rata payment for periods of less than a full shift which is 8-1/2 hours, including a one-hour meal break.
C. CAR mileage and other expenses
Fees include all normal expenses unless agreed with the commissioning editor. If expenses are agreed, the Herald & Times Group will reimburse costs incurred wholly, necessarily and exclusively in creating the content and if you give us of original receipts. Where we agree that you can use your car, mileage will be paid at 20 pence per mile.
D. Single job rates.
Where we ask you to undertake a single job which primarily involves the use of visual equipment, for example a still or video camera, we will pay £90 for all jobs, including all content produced, except sports coverage, where the rate will be £105. Car use agreed in advance will be paid at 20 pence per mile.
Please return the signed letter to: Liz Mulgrew, PA to Group Editors, Herald & Times Group, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, G2 3QB Or scan the signed letter and email to liz.mulgrew@heraldandtimes.co.uk.