Journalists are to strike over a regional publisher’s planned job cuts after union members voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
Members of the National Union of Journalists working for Johnston Press in Northern Ireland were balloted after JP announced around 13 redundancies in the region.
NUJ members will now strike at titles including Belfast daily the News Letter, the bi-weekly Derry Journal and a number of weekly newspapers.
The union says membership across the titles stands at more than 90pc of eligible staff, and turnouts for the ballot at the affected titles were all more than 70pc.
In Derry 100pc of those voting did so in favour of strike action, while 92.9pc did the same at the News Letter.
Nicola Coleman, NUJ Irish Organiser, said: “It is outrageous to propose job cuts when this union has consistently highlighted chronic understaffing and the subsequent pressures on our member’s health and wellbeing not to mind the quality of the papers.
“While NUJ members face yet another attack on their working conditions and struggle to serve their communities and produce quality newspapers, senior executives in Johnston Press are rewarding themselves handsomely.”
The NUJ wants to reach an agreement with JP on staffing levels and redundancy terms, and is seeking 3 weeks’ pay year of service plus pay in lieu of notice.
The union also has a longstanding pay claim for additional points of the journalists salary scale to compensate for the loss of promotional opportunities.
Nicola added: “The latest financial results show that demands for a decent redundancy package, an agreement on staffing levels and a fair pay scale can be delivered.
“The result of the ballot signifies a massive display of unity, strength and determination to take a stand for fairness and respect.”
In January JP told staff to expect a series of cutbacks across its business, with the union claiming up to 100 jobs could be lost across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
At the time, the BBC reported that 13 of the jobs under threat were in Northern Ireland, although there has been no confirmation of this by the company.
The restructure has also been met with opposition from the union in Scotland, with members of the NUJ’s Scotsman and Central Scotland threatening to strike over the potential loss of 32 jobs there.
JP says it is working with staff in Northern Ireland on a proposal to switch to its ‘Newsroom of the Future’ structure, which sees journalists working across multiple titles within the same region.
In May 2015 Graeme Huston, who oversaw a trial of the structure in the North Midlands while editor of the Derbyshire Times, was seconded to the position of editorial director at JP’s Northern Ireland publishing unit.
He was given the role on a permanent basis in October.
Jeremy Clifford, JP editor-in-chief, said: “We are disappointed and surprised that three of the chapels in Northern Ireland have voted in favour of industrial action.
“We have been working with staff and the union on a Newsroom Of The Future structure proposal and have delivered on a salary structure as we pledged to do. We will continue with these consultations.”
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
Why is the editor-in-chief “disappointed and surprised”? He must know the mood amongst his own workforce, surely? And wasn’t JP going to announce detailed plans for redundancies in January? I’m sure HTFP covered it and then the story just seemed to stop. Still, the company has a national paper to develop now and perhaps existing staff will get a chance to work on it, opportunity for a change rather than the axe. What a confusing situation for everyone there.
Report this comment
This is the first strike in the history of the Northern Ireland Group, once owned by Morton Newspapers who treated staff with compassion and decency.
Report this comment
Good luck to you all but I don’t hold out much hope of you achieving anything. We went on strike in Leeds in2009 and unless you can stop publication no one will take any notice. There will always be the brown noses who will do the management biding and get a cobbled together rag out! You have my support for what it’s worth. Good luck again.
Report this comment
I well remember the days when Johnstons were buying up newspapers like they were going out of fashion and even the Monopolies Commission were involved because they were buying so many in one area.
Everyone then said they were bonkers Has anything changed?
Report this comment
Thank goodness that someone has had the courage to stand up to thesr incompetent fools who have devestated a lot of once great papers. If I didnt know better Id say that a rival company had got fifth columinists into JP to wreck it. The current lot are doing a great job at driving papers into the dirt. Hopefully Ashley’s talk of selling titles will happen and you’ll be free of the stress of working for Johnston Press. Good luck with the strike. You have my full support.
Report this comment
I seem to recall a few months back someone on HTFP seriously inviting JP shop floor staff to tell us how great it is working for the company , hoping for some good news. Silence.
So news of a strike is hardly a shock. Good luck with it, but JP always end up doing what they want to do regardless of the cost to decent workers. It’s just their way.
Report this comment
All very sad but the four economic pillars of the regional press (Sits,Property,Motors and Notices) went on-line years ago, why do journalists ( most of them ex on this site) continue to delude themselves that local news content and editorial effort was ever the economic core of these businesses? The core has gone, JP have to generate cash to stay afloat (the past’s overly expensive investment mistakes are what they are, no amount of junior common room angst can change that) or they will all be gone. Perhaps the NUJ who’s officials appear to have all the answers can convince their members to re-mortgage, cash in pensions and buy the business and run it as a trust, just like the highly (not) profitable Guardian.
Report this comment
Punter’s is the voice of reason, even if the message is a bitter one. The cash has fled online and local news operations just cannot catch, corral and exploit it. Editorial staff (like Minim) take an ethical, journalistic view – hence the whining – but the accountants hold the whip hand and what they are basically doing is keeping a terminal patient alive for the last few pounds. When they’re gone, that’s all folks.
Report this comment
What Punter is missing is the importance of readers (the audience) to newspapers, whether on line or in print. And they don’t go on line or into print for the ads. Yes, they did for the “classifieds” of course, but if you accept that they’ve gone, you have to produce a product that people want to read in spite of the ads, not because of them. This seems to be something that suits can’t grasp. Incidentally, neither property or motors has fled online totally – I just have to look at my local paper on a Thursday. It’s stuffed.
Report this comment
Go for it! Nothing to lose! Kick em where it hurts!
Report this comment
There is a hope for local news , but it is under a non corporate ownership , a small team working to earn a living for themselves rather than the bankers. It is however inevitably weekly, and in a way, back to the future. Many local daily titles started as weekly (Classified on the front page) and expanded with the growth of the economy. The audience has moved on or died we have to live with that. The transition will be painful for many and profitable for a few – it was ever thus.
A major failure in all this is the inability of the large regional companies to grasp online classified , who remembers the horror of Fish4 ?
Report this comment
JC should be surprised the same action wasn’t taken by the chapels in JP England and Scotland. I am disappointed and surprised compulsory redundancies are taking place in both JP England and Scotland with no action taken.
Report this comment
I’d love to think the strike would bring JP to their senses. But they are devoid of senses. They’ve proved beyond doubt that they don’t care what sort of rubbish rolls off their presses. Middle management will pillage emails and various websites to fill the damned templates that masquerade as ‘news’ pages. The word ‘exclusive’ scarcely figures in the JP vocabulary. Ashley was on BBC Radio Four’s media show today and his outpourings were frightening. He was asked about the strike, but swotted it off as if he was describing an annoying bluebottle. They hold everything and everyone in disdain – except the God of Profits. They couldn’t care less about people or quality of product.
Report this comment
Punter is right. I do believe there is an appetite for locally produced weekly papers using local staff with excellent local knowledge and good editing and writing. So that rules out any JP weekly.
Such a venture will never make the big money formerly made (and wasted) by JP in cushier times and needs to be a small private outfit with experienced journalists rather than keen but green kids out of college.
The product must be good quality. Looking at my badly-edited local JP rag this week only reminds me of that fact. The youngsters on these papers kid themselves if they think this is the real deal.
Report this comment
Another strike on Graeme Huston’s watch. This makes at least three. Interesting.
Report this comment