Revolt in national newspapers
WORKERS, DEC 2006 ISSUE
BATTLES are erupting all over national newspapers as companies desperate to suck more and more profits from the industry are being met by a resurgent National Union of Journalists. The focus for the fights is the new buzzword, "integration" – the term used for getting print journalists to become multiskilled and write also for the web as well as do video, photography and podcasts.
At the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the NUJ chapel suspended its planned strike in November when the company backed down and agreed to negotiate about integration, rather than simply impose it. The company has agreed that there will be no compulsory Saturday working for Daily Telegraph staff. Journalists there also want some reward for extra work, facing a company adamant that it won't pay any more. John Carey, father of the NUJ chapel, told a meeting of journalists in Victoria, London, last month that the employer had invested hundreds of millions in new plant and facilities, but nothing on journalists.
Meanwhile, as Workers went to press, journalists at Guardian Newspapers were waiting for the results of their strike ballot. They are in dispute with the employer over two interwoven principles: integration, and pay for online journalists. In advance of a formal improved pay offer, the company hiked salaries for the poorly paid online journalists by up to 23 per cent – and this while just 3 per cent was officially on the table.
At both newspaper groups, and throughout the country, journalists are fighting to maintain quality in the face of cuts. "Media owners are looking to see how far they can drop the standards. It's our job to see they don't," said Guardian chapel leader Helene Mulholland. That fight is already reaping rewards, on several fronts. At the Guardian, the chapel has recruited 80 new members, pushing membership to over 95 per cent.