Journalists at the UK’s largest regional publisher are set to vote on possible strike action.

The National Union of Journalists has confirmed its members at Reach plc will be balloted on strike action and/or action short of a strike.

The move follows the union’s decision to reject a pay increase offer for Reach employees of 3pc or £750, whichever is more.

Reach was informed of the decision by the NUJ on Friday and members of the Reach NUJ group chapel will be balloted in the coming weeks.

Annual results for the company indicated a £24m rise in cash balances with operating profits of over £146m during 2021.

According to the NUJ, Reach chief executive Jim Mullen’s £4m pay package last year was worth 107 times the pay of median earning Reach employees.

NUJ Reach national co-ordinator Chris Morley, pictured, said: “Members are incredibly disappointed that we have now reached this point in the road where the company is still failing to acknowledge the struggle they are up against in any meaningful way.

“They have performed heroics during the pandemic as key workers. Yet most have had the burden of soaring energy costs transferred on to their shoulders via the company’s policy of home working from which Reach will make millions of pounds’ worth of annual savings from closing most of the group’s offices – with virtually no financial help to do so.

“Our members have also been ultra-flexible in adapting at very short notice to the company’s scramble to collect the millions of extra digital page views crucial to the company’s revenue and yet are told to swallow an effective pay cut that is slicing deeper into their living standards all the time.”

“As a union, we are getting the increasingly clear message from members that they are not willing this time to turn the other cheek on another poor pay offer and are saying: enough is enough.

Chris went on to claim Reach’s board “appears totally remote from what is happening on the ground”.

He added: “Without a better deal on the table, their journalists are already voting with their feet and finding other jobs that can pay all the rising bills.

“Chapels have not taken this move lightly and management should recognise the importance of coming back with a fair offer.”

A Reach spokesperson said: “Our people are vital to Reach’s continued success and we greatly value our relationships with our journalists.

“Our priority must be to protect jobs by ensuring the group has a sustainable future in the face of unprecedented newsprint cost inflation and an uncertain economic backdrop.”