From the Guardian:
Journalists at a daily newspaper could walk out next month after deciding to ballot for industrial action over a pay dispute.
Journalists are angry in part because of the time negotiations have taken and because an anonymous consortium that is donating about £500,000 to the paper over three years has stipulated that the money could not be spent boosting the pay packets of journalists.
Some of the paper’s 16-odd journalists, all National Union of Journalists members, earn as little as £18,000 a year.
NUJ members have held a chapel meeting and informed management they would ballot for industrial action. If they vote in favour, a walkout could be staged in February.
Less than £20,000 a year in central London – that’s almost slavery!
An NUJ workplace representative said:
“Every year we are told we are a ‘special case’ – that the paper does not make enough money to bring our wages up to the level of other journalists doing similar work”
“The paper has received half a million pounds in new investment – the largest injection of cash in the paper’s history – but our management have told us bluntly that not a penny of it is to go towards our wages.”
We just want our management to keep their promises to us. They have constantly pledged to address our low wages, but now that they have the cash they are refusing to honour that commitment.”
What sort of bloodsucking capitalist leeches expect skilled proletarians to survive on so little a sum of money?
Click here to find out.
Update: At least the Morning Star management recognises the National Union of Journalists. It’s clearly not a given for left-wing publications.
