The Telegraph & Argus looks set to be hit by a series of strikes among NUJ members unhappy with a pay offer.

The union’s Newsquest (Bradford) members voted to take strike action on three days this month after a management offer of 2.5 per cent.

The NUJ, which has 55 members among the 90-strong editorial workforce, wants a 7.5 per cent increase.

They are planning to stay away from work in the morning next Wednesday, and all day on Friday January 25 and Thursday January 31 – unless management increase a pay offer of 2.5 per cent.

In a ballot held before Christmas more than 80 per cent of union members voted for strike action. Of those who attended a chapel meeting on Monday, just one person voted against the walkouts. No-one abstained.

The company’s regional managing director Tim Blott spoke to the chapel but his appeal for journalists to accept the 2.5 per cent offer failed to win them over.

He told Holdthefrontpage: “The company has put forward a perfectly reasonable pay offer of 2.5 per cent, which is well ahead of the current rate of inflation.

“This has already been accepted by the majority of our staff and indeed other trade union members from the print union.

“It also reflects the fragile nature of the local economy in Bradford, which has been hard hit by the recent race riots and the aftermath of September 11.

“The company has already – through negotiation – increased its pay offer from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent. The journalists have not moved from their insistence on a 7.5 per cent increase.

“Newsquest Bradford was one of the first regional newspaper publishing companies to voluntarily re-recognise the National Union of Journalists for collective bargaining.

“It is therefore very disappointing that the reaction from the union is strike action in support of an unrealistic pay demand at a time when job losses are widespread across the media industry.”

Regional union organiser Miles Barter said: “NUJ members at Newsquest Bradford earn on average 20 per cent less than the official UK average wage. They submitted a claim for a 7.5 per cent rise, an extra day’s holiday, and improved sick pay and mileage rates.”

Chapel members have said they will be picketing the offices of the T&A in Bradford and Shipley, as well as the Keighley News, the lkley Gazette, the Craven Herald and the Wharfdale Observer.

The NUJ is appealing for support to help cover the wages of those taking part in the strike.

The staff are being supported by the European Federation of Journalists, whose general secretary Aidan White said: “The decision by journalists to strike is never easy, but in the face of a derisory pay offer in one of Britain’s most poorly-paid areas of journalism it is hardly surprising.”

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