return of the journalists
WORKERS, JUNE 2003 ISSUE
Regional press journalists in the north of England are engaged in a series of long-running disputes about pay with their US-based owners. National Union of Journalists members working on the Telegraph & Argus and other Newsquest Bradford area titles will begin an indefinite strike on 26 May, after 31 days of stoppages this year.
Colleagues at Newsquest's Bolton and Bury newspapers were on strike from 22 April, after a similar period of limited action. They were meeting at the end of May to consider the latest proposals and their best way forward, after talks between management and national NUJ officials.
The American-owned chain of 240 papers is trying to impose an increase of just 2% across the whole group. Action has taken place elsewhere too. NUJ members in Kendal, in Cumbria, were on strike earlier this year. The Newsquest NUJ chapel at the News Shopper in southeast London is due to take action from 23 May. The NUJ is supporting all the disputes from the union's fighting fund to prevent strikers suffering hardship. Fellow unionists in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester have given support to both the main disputes. The union has some parliamentary support as well - 53 MPs signed an Early Day Motion calling on the newspaper publisher to make a realistic pay offer to the striking journalists.
The company says the average salary of those on strike in Bradford is £21,000. The union says that rates are too low - fully qualified senior journalists start at £15,000 on the weeklies and £17,100 on the daily. The NUJ chapel asked for a rise of £1,500 per year, which would still leave most of them well below the British average wage of £24,000.
The company claims it cannot afford more than 2%. The journalists are not convinced. Newsquest Bradford made over £7 million profit in 2002 - representing a profit-to-turnover margin of 31% - and it paid a dividend of £4 million. Pay settlements at other provincial newspaper groups have been higher than the Newsquest offer.
After the latest strike decision, management offered 3% for some of the journalists and a performance-linked bonus scheme. That offer was unanimously rejected.
Over the Pennines, the Bolton and Bury NUJ Chapel decided that going on strike indefinitely would be more effective than taking action for just two days a week. Father of Chapel Dave Thomson explained: "We realised that the short strikes were not effective because they were able to build up a stock of stories so after the second one we decided not to go back." Since the strike began, the resolve of the chapel has strengthened and has increased in pace and momentum virtually every single day. The Bolton and Bury titles are part of Newsquest Lancs, whose latest profits increased by 16% to over £5 million. A significant part of that amount, £500,000, was saved by not filling vacant posts in Bolton.