Strikes start today at media group Reach after talks over journalist pay break down
Daily Mirror and Daily Express journalists are set to go on strike over pay today after talks with media group Reach broke down.
More than 1150 journalists will take part in the walkout, with Reach reportedly plugging the gap with content that has been centrally created.
Titles impacted also include the Daily Record, Sunday Mail, Liverpool Echo, and a number of other regional publications.
Journalists cancelled a strike that was due to take place last Friday, with the firm bringing the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in for further negotiations during the bank holiday weekend.
However, Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said these were “doomed to failure” as a result of Reach chief exec Jim Mullen’s unwillingness to “budge an inch”.
“This is a business with cash in the bank, a business that is happy to spend £7million on lavish pay packages for its top two executives, a business that is about to hand over a further £4million to shareholders,’ she added.
Meanwhile, a Reach spokesperson said: “We greatly value our journalists and are disappointed that, despite our best efforts during the negotiation process and successful agreements with Unite and the BAJ, we have been unable to reach an agreement with the NUJ.”
They added that the firm must remain focused on protecting the interests of all colleagues and stakeholders, with 2022 continuing to be a “extremely challenging for the whole publishing sector” as a result of reduced demand for advertising and energy inflation driving the cost of newsprint.