Journalists at Reach newspapers which includes the Manchester Evening News and websites are striking today after talks to resolve the dispute over pay broke down.
More than 1150 journalists will take part in one of the most significant walkouts across the company’s titles including The Mirror, Express, Daily Record, Sunday Mail, Western Mail and Irish Star, the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Bristol Post, Birmingham Mail, The Journal, South Wales Evening Post and the Live websites.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said:
“We accepted the company’s invitation to talks brokered by ACAS, but ultimately, the lack of willingness on the part of Reach chief executive Jim Mullen to budge an inch meant the negotiations were doomed to failure. This is a business with cash in the bank, a business that is happy to spend £7million on lavish pay packages for its top two executives, a business that is about to hand over a further £4million to shareholders.
“Yet is also a business that believes its hard-working journalists deserve a whopping real-terms pay cut, and refuses to come to an agreement on pay that will ensure our members can keep themselves and their families afloat this winter. It’s shameful that a media company that positions itself as a voice for communities around the UK and Ireland, with many titles that claim to be an ally of working people, would choose to treat its own staff so shabbily.”
