[Oliver Twisted: Newsquest workers want more pay]
British Gannett employees were to start a five-day walkout just hours ago, over what the National Union of Journalists says is the company's too-low pay raise offer. The papers are The Press and the Gazette & Herald in York, about four hours north of London. Both are part of Gannett's Newsquest division, which includes 17 daily papers and about 8,000 employees.
The strike was scheduled to begin Thursday, York time.
Union members agreed to the walkout May 8, the NUJ says, after eight months of talks failed to reach a deal. The union ("chapel" in the U.K.) says the company has offered a below-inflation offer of 3%. On their strike blog, employees say they plan to wear Edwardian costumes on the picket line to commemorate the NUJ's first strike in York, nearly 100 years ago.
Newsquest has about 8,100 employees -- or about 18% of all Gannett workers. In addition to the dailies, it publishes nearly 300 non-daily publications. The U.K. division has given GCI's revenue a lift in the past. But now Newsquest is pressed by some of the same forces -- a tanking real estate market -- hurting GCI's U.S. papers.
Newsquest workers: I'm sorry I've done such a lousy job covering you and yours. Please keep us current on U.K. news by leaving notes in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, use this link from a non-work computer; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
[Image: "Please, sir, I want some more,'' Oliver Twist says, in the 2005 film version of the Charles Dickens classic]
OOOooooooooh...
ReplyDeleteHow about we get these U.S. properties to do the same?
ReplyDeleteExactly. Collective bargaining will get their attention - and it's protected under the law (as are employees who choose to unionize and challenge unjust labor practices).
ReplyDeleteOr, you could always leverage your marketplace power and go find someplace else to work.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I will never understand the walkout mentality. If you don't like your working conditions and don't want to work within the system to change them, go someplace else. Last time I checked, no one was working at a GCI property as part of an indentured servitude arrangement.
Note: A reader left this anonymous comment on an unrelated post; I'm moving it here.
ReplyDelete"In reference to the 3% wage increases in the U.K. - sure, it's below inflation, but in my 8 years with Gannett I never received anything above my one "outstanding year" raise... 5%. Frankly, I'm amazed they got 3%. Of course, 3% of not enough will always be not enough."
Thanks for covering this. We're now in the third day of this five-day walkout, and have been overwhelmed by the support we've received from the general public and other staff in the company. Donations and messages of goodwill have flooded in.
ReplyDeleteMany readers have been amazed to find how poor the pay is, and had no idea we were owned by such a wealthy international organisation.
In response to the anonymous post above... it's all very well saying "go someplace else". But we are the only daily paper in York. Leaving the company means leaving the city, and we should not be forced to leave the community to which we are committed, just because our company will not give us the same rise as our peers elsewhere in the UK.
In response to the anonymous comment on the walkout mentality, you can't just go somewhere else if you work in papers in the UK. The vast majority of papers are owned by a handful of huge corporations, and driving down pay in real terms and not filling vacant staff positions are articles of faith with most of these operations - despite the fact that staff are now taking on lots of extra work, especially online, and that RSI/stress problems are growing (I had to completely change jobs on a paper due to this, and still have pain management treatment).
ReplyDeleteI earned more in communications working overseas 16 years ago than I earn here on a UK paper - not in real terms, in absolute (had to move here for family reasons). It is not a healthy situation, and that is why the courageous NUJ York members are striking.