Management at the publisher's operations in Norfolk, Suffolk, the south-west, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire briefed staff this week that upcoming pay reviews would not now take place because of the pay freeze. It is understood that pay reviews could be postponed until 2010.Staff at magazine publishing businesses Archant Life, Archant Dialogue and Archant Specialist have also been told their pay will be frozen."Annual pay is always agreed locally by our divisions, a number of which have said there will be no salary increase for the time being," an Archant spokesman said.The spokesman added that pay reviews at Archant Print, the printing division, and Archant London were due later this year and it was not known if they intended to follow other areas of the company in freezing pay.Archant, which is privately owned and employs around 2,600 staff, announced earlier this month its operating profits had fallen 27.2% to £22.2m last year after significant declines in advertising revenue. The company said there was no prospect of trading conditions easing.The company publishes four daily newspapers, 60 weekly papers and around 80 monthly magazines. The leading daily titles, the Eastern Daily Press and Ipswich's Evening Star, have already been hit hard by job cuts in recent weeks.Archant has plans to cut almost a third of its 179 editorial staff from its operation in Norfolk as it introduces an integrated editorial system across its Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News titles.More ...