A group of journalists in Yorkshire is challenging the National Union of Journalists to call a national strike in response to the current wave of job losses facing the industry.

Over the course of the past week, nearly 400 job cuts have been announced by major newspaper publishers Northcliffe, Archant, and Guardian Media Group.

Now the NUJ chapel at the Johnston Press-owned Halifax Courier wants to see the union call what would be the first national strike by provincial journalists for 30 years.

It has written to general secretary Jeremy Dear saying the only way to tackle the crisis is “one out, all out.”

“The newspaper industry is haemorrhaging jobs. The question is, what are we going to do about it?,” says the letter.

“The only way we can have any impact is to act together – so why aren’t we? The NUJ is our union – so start earning the £12 or so we fork out every month.

“Halifax – and no doubt others – feel there is only one solution. To quote the so-called good old days, one out, all out. It’s the only way to bring employers to their senses.

“We need you to organise this – even if it is just a day of action among Johnston Press titles.”

The letter has gone to both Mr Dear and to the Johnston Press group chapel.

Johnston Press has declined to comment on the story.

Comments

Steve (12/03/2009 07:27:20)
Like that’s really going to make a crap situation better!
The industry is fighting to compete in the worst recession and you think going out on strike and potentially harming your paper is going to make it better. Get real.

Another Northcliffe Old-Hand (12/03/2009 09:00:55)
The time and energy would be far better spent organising groups of journalists and commercial middle managers into consortia positioned to negotiate and complete the ‘buy out’ of local titles or small groups of titles from the administrators when they are appointed or from the holding companies when they bail out finally. Observer Standard Newspapers is already up for grabs and JP is likely to be next. The casualties will not find trade buyers and there should be some real opportunities for commercially minded and energetic former employees prepared to think ‘outside the box’.

Seasoned hack (12/03/2009 09:10:44)
Yes, and think of all the money Johnston will save on that one day by not paying the strikers! “Tight control of costs”, and all that. The fat cats will be rubbing their paws with glee.

Col Kurtz (12/03/2009 09:30:19)
The NUJ is a joke

OldSurvivors of 1978-9 strike (12/03/2009 09:33:26)
My heart says get out on the lines and fight as before; my head says it would be pointless. Papers will be filled with even more press releases and pictures of traffic jams and managements will love it. Less cost, nice margins. But the frustration is growing beyond containment, and something will explode somewhere.

Ralph Hunter (12/03/2009 09:55:11)
Now the jounalists know how it feels when they took over our jobs in the past. It’s dog eat dog out there.
ex-caseroom worker

samanthacashin (12/03/2009 10:06:05)
You are right the management have no interest in the quality of content and will simple expect anyone else left in the building to cut and paste in press releases and submitted pictures.
And yes they will relish saving every penny of your salaries while you are waving the placards.
Why not have a national day of protest on a Saturday or Sunday when many of us are not working?
The sad thing is that the current internet/data capture obsessed management don’t seem to realise that most of their papers are in tiny communities which simply want a local paper with news, sport, BMDs, free ads, offers, competitions and details of what’s going on at the weekend. Oh and probably a crossword.
The widow who has been placing her In Memoriam notice for the last 20 years doesn’t want to have to pay a week’s pension for it. She doesn’t want to have to worry whether she has ticked the box so we don’t sell her data to a third party offering her a mobility scooter. She doesn’t want to have to go online to see the extra web entry for which she has paid.
The reason people aren’t buying our weekly papers is because they are often so thin we are charging more than a penny a page.
The content we do manage to get into them has probably been produced by one poor trainee reporter stuck in a tatty old office and subbed by a stressed out editor who is trying to maintain standards while taking care of half a dozen titles and answering to the demands of an MD who spends all day planning the next meeting or presentation to their boss about the strategy for the next six months.
Another Northcliffe Old-Hand is right those of us who do understand newspapers and what readers want could buy these clowns out and start again.
There is plenty of revenue to be had and profits to be made.
All we need to do is start producing proper newspapers again.

R Jones (12/03/2009 10:06:29)
The point is that the NUT is acting what it believes to be in the best interest of its members. ‘Believes’ is the key word here.
As someone who has worked in newspapers for 33 years, for the last 25 of them there has been a progressive decline in pay and working conditions. Had they been all those years ago what they are today, I would not have joined the profession.
The wages offered for the average provincial newspaper journalist today are pitiful. They are not sufficient to support a family. They are not adequate recompense for the skill, risk and responsibility that comes as part of the job.
If a strike to save a round of job cuts is successful, where is the medium-term benefit?
The NUJ – and the employers – should do the decent thing and work together to draw up packages by which journalists who are surplus to requirements can retrain for other careers.
It is no use pretending we can put the clock back – internet advertising has seen to that – but at least something constructive cold be done to those who are hardest hit, not just giving them another year or two of false hope by the odd management backdown.
Get real – times and circumstances have changed, the world has moved on, and it is not going to get any better, even when the recession bottoms out.
My experience from the NUJ strike of the 1978/9 is that management welcomed industrial action because it saved pay – and what better at a time like this?

Peter (12/03/2009 10:15:30)
Staff buy-outs. Good idea, but if the ads revenue isn’t there now, where will the money come from to finance the ongoing costs?

tommylad (12/03/2009 10:22:34)
Oh for God’s sake, all this bleating that it’s too late, we’re all off to hell in a handcart, management are too strong, bla blah blah. Have a bit of pride in yourselves, stuff the job for a day and get out picketing. And if the toothless NUJ won’t support you, then maybe it’s time for a new union????

paul feeney (12/03/2009 10:52:37)
I think a national strike is the only choice left. After all we have our backs to the wall, working in poor conditions on pay which would shame a London bus driver so what have we got to lose. The managements know the NUJ have never cut the mustard, but if its survival depends on it maybe it will consider pulling out its finger, or at least replacing those currently running it for people with more balls!

Lister (12/03/2009 11:40:17)
Northcliffe, Newsquest, Trinity – they are picking us off one by one as their profits bleed away to slightly lower profits. These organisations – like the banking industry – have got to change, and the only way that is going to happen is if we (WE – THAT’S US) bring this crisis to a head. If we sit back and moan then we’ve had it. If we fight, at least we stand a chance.

Runityourself (12/03/2009 11:45:24)
Aha! Some sense in some of these postings.
The continuing dem
ise of the big boys does offer opportunity to others in bringing new products to the market. There IS ad revenue out there – just don’t waste time trying to build a business model around the ‘good old’ motors/property/sits vac revenue as its thirty years out of date and no longer there.
People still want grass roots local news that’s relevent to them. If there’s any journalists out there who has minimal fear of ‘doing the whole paper (incl advertising/newspaper sales/accounts, etc, etc) then consider it.
How do I know – I’m already doing it and haven’t got to report to a board, pay inflated salaries, pay shareholder dividends or make a 20 – 40% operating profit.

Rich, ex-Newsquest (12/03/2009 14:09:45)
National action is the only way to tackle a national problem. These companies don’t act locally when they cut jobs and close offices. They do it to shore up profits for national and international shareholders. National strike? Should have happened five years ago. Bring it on.

FAST WOMAN (12/03/2009 15:10:40)
Oh ex-caseworker Ralph H, how I could go on about being totalled on NUJ picket lines by the NGA, SOGAT and NATSOPA boys in their cars rushing to grab wages twice the size of what we ever received. And how, regardless of their supposed TUC unity, the brothers never had a problem with setting and printing the work of non-NUJ staff while we huddled on those picket lines.
Instead I will simply give my vote to Another Northcliffe Old-Hand. And I’d like to see legislation whereby newspapers cannot simply be closed down. If the current owners had to offer papers for sale for a set period of time, they might not be so quick kill them off. Particularly if potential buyers willing to operate as trusts could apply for government ‘heritage grants’.
I intend to badger MPs with this one once the P45 arrives and I’ve plenty of time to schmooze.

Basil Fortrum, Isle of Mann (12/03/2009 16:09:17)
If all you so called journalists were any good you would have found out the real story that you have become redundant anyway and moved away into longer term employment. Ranting is for spoilt kids. Go get a life and make it quick

Observing with interest (12/03/2009 16:41:38)
Basil – ranting is for spolit kids remember!

Steve (12/03/2009 16:53:19)
Those calling for a national strike – what will it achieve? It will only weaken papers further which will make a bad situation worse. Someone mentions fighting to save jobs by going on strike but how will it help save jobs?

Basil (13/03/2009 10:57:42)
I am 8 years old

NewsyEd (13/03/2009 11:20:27)
The employers will not listen to bleatings – they will only respond to action.
If jourbnalists had stood up and defended themselves 20 years ago we might not be in the position we are.
There is too much defeatism masquerading as common sense.
I back the Halifax call

Lister (13/03/2009 15:17:25)
Out now

Sarah (16/03/2009 12:40:19)
About time this was on the table. Not only an opportunity to challenge the bosses on a national level – the way they clearly make policy – but also a chance for journalists to show solidarity with each other and prove that we really DO care about quality journalism.