Journalists who have gone back to work after an eight-week strike say readers will now get the news coverage they ‘expect and deserve.’
Members of the National Union of Journalists from South Yorkshire Newspapers took industrial action against Johnston Press following plans to axe 18 jobs.
Journalists from the Doncaster Free Press, Selby Times, Epworth Bells and South Yorkshire Times manned the picket lines from 15 July, during which time they produced their own newsletters.
On their first day back at work on Thursday they condemned the standard of the newspapers produced in their absence, claiming two major stories had been missed in the South Yorkshire Times, where former editor Jim Oldfield was made redundant by the company last month.
One was a story on the death of Mexborough boy Matthew Cartwright who died aged eight on Tuesday 30 August after apparently falling in to a canal on Bank Holiday Monday, and the other was about high-profile local boxer Gwyn Wale who was left fighting for his life after being stabbed through the heart on 25 August.
The chapel also claims that the Doncaster Free Press was four weeks late in reporting a story about the local council’s creation of an ‘ASBO buster’ squad – a story that was broke in the striker’s newsletter News of the Don.
Strikers at both papers claim they were fully aware of all the stories that were missed.
A union member said: “Frankly the papers produced in the time we were on the picket line were simply shoddy. These are only the most recent examples of stories missed or pinched from our newsletters during the last eight weeks.
“Our readers are used to so much better and now we’re back at work we will be able to give them the hard hitting up to date news coverage they expect and deserve.”
Johnston Press did not wish to comment.
The strikers returned to work following a unanimous ballot to allow for the start of negotiations with the company.
The chapel has not ruled out the possibility of further industrial action.
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Surely you would expect the quality to be shoddy? The reporters who made these comments have been on strike – ie not working on the papers in question!
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Shoddy reporting – fewer people buy the publications – job cuts – strikes – shoddy reporting – fewer people buy the publication – publication closure……how sad
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Maybe the strikers could start their own paper …?
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Eight week strike and the result “a unanimous ballot to allow for the start of negotiations with the company.”
That’s a victory then. Eight weeks well spent.
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A ballot for negotiation is only a very small part of what’s been achieved.
Just because the details aren’t on HTFP doesn’t mean that’s all that has taken place.
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I agree with “confused” and it’s obvious they lost and will miss 8 weeks’ pay too. The firm saved all that pay to boost profits. Sad defeat of strikers. Vote with your feet and find other jobs. It would be their most effective “strike” to thus leave the management in a spin.
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The only defeatism I’m seeing on here comes from all the usual suspects, most of whom I’m sure are various JP employees. Sadly our strike did cause a small amount of ill feeling among a VERY, VERY small minority of the folk from certain none-editorial departments, who have been quite vocal and provocative over various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and the HtfP comments section. It’s usually evident which of the commenters are ‘those people’.
Presumably their intention was to ‘rally their co-workers to turn against us’. It’s never been entirely clear why, and in the interests of rebuilding professional working relations, we are not particularly interested in delving any further into this. Let the snipers revel in their own petty-mindedness. We know exactly what we have achieved, and are all very proud of the solid work we have done in our efforts to bring about these important negotiations.
Obviously Hacked Off is completely correct. There’s a great deal going on between the scenes that we are not at liberty to discuss openly; however I assure you that we have actually achieved a great deal, and in a relatively short time. We have very clear goals, a solid strategy upon which to achieve those goals. which will bring about significant quality of life improvements for all of our members, while helping maintain long-term job security.
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Striking journos were never going to say the papers had been excellent while they were away!
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Are the strikers prepared to guarantee that there will be no errors in any of these titles this week?
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You’d love that wouldn’t you Paper Boyo?
Bet you absolutely can’t wait ’till the day of print so you can pick over every single word in the South Yorkshire Times with a fine toothed comb, looking for typos and capitalisation errors -ready to gleefully trumpet your Pyrrhic victory to all and sundry.
Clock’s ticking then laddy… best get camping outside your local newsagent.