Strike at Reach ends after members vote for new pay offer

Possible strikes at National World and Al Jazeera

THE NUJ dispute with Reach plc, which publishes the Mirror, Express and local titles, has ended after members voted to accept an improved pay offer. But there are other possible NUJ strikes on the horizon at National World titles in Scotland (The Scotsman and others) and at broadcaster Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, a Judicial Review brought by the NUJ and ten other unions seeks to strike down new government regulations that allow agency workers to be used to break strikes.

Members at Reach had earlier voted to reject a derisory, below-inflation pay offer of three per cent. Following a one-day strike in August at Reach, planned strikes for September were suspended to allow NUJ members organised as the Reach Group Chapel to consider an improved pay offer. A chapel is an NUJ workplace-based unit of organisation.

In late September, NUJ members at Reach voted on this improved pay offer - 55 per cent of those balloted voted to accept the offer. The turnout was 76 per cent of members, with 906 valid votes cast.

London Freelance Branch voted to donate to the NUJ Reach strike fund. Regrettably, the NUJ Father of Chapel (NUJ representative) at Reach, Richard Palmer, could not attend LFB's September Branch meeting to update LFB. As Express royal correspondent he has been somewhat busy of late.

The revised pay offer give editorial staff members an increase of between 14 and 44 per cent in their pay. A statement on the NUJ website emphasised that the agreement was only the beginning. The NUJ and Reach will now enter into a process to discuss "meaningful career progression", "outstanding pay anomalies" and other issues. Negotiations with Reach over pay in 2023 will begin this autumn.

And elsewhere...

Stand by for possible strikes by NUJ members at the National World group, whose Scottish titles include The National and The Scotsman. Members who work for this group have voted in favour of strike action over compulsory redundancies. A one-day strike at on 26 August was called off to allow for talks.

NUJ members who work as staff for Al Jazeera in the UK are currently voting on whether to strike over a below-inflationary pay offer – 4.5 per cent or £500 more a year for those earning under £500. The ballot closes on 17 October.

There's an NUJ London Independent Broadcasting and New Media Branch meeting in support of NUJ colleagues who work for Al Jazeera, on the evening of Tuesday 4 October at the NUJ HQ at Headland House, London. NUJ members of other branches are welcome to attend. Let that Branch know if you are going, details are here.

Freelances in UK law have no right to strike, but they may wish to keep an eye on upcoming strike dates (via @NUJ_LFB and @NUJofficial on Twitter) for days on which they may find themselves unavailable if offered shifts at those companies.

Any NUJ freelances who suffer a loss of income as a result of turning down shifts offered during a strike should contact the NUJ Chapel (workplace-based unit of NUJ organisation) for that media group.

It was only just over two years ago that representatives of the NUJ and other unions were in regular fortnightly meetings with government who were seeking the unions' input during the crisis of a full lockdown early in the covid pandemic. How things have changed - now it's strikes, strikes, strikes!

Strikes everywhere

There are so many current or imminent strikes or strike ballots - mostly over below-inflationary pay - that it's hard to keep track of them all. Those of which the Freelance is aware at the time of writing include coordinated strikes by rail unions ASLEF and RMT, with strike dates to include the start and end of the Conservative Party conference - next on 1 October.

Communication workers' union CWU, which represents postal workers and BT telecoms workers among others, has upcoming strike dates. Dockers organised into union Unite at Liverpool and Felixstowe have recently held strikes. There is an ongoing strike by barristers over their pay from the legal aid system, which often leaves them earning less than minimum wage.

The National Education Union has just opened a ballot of teachers on whether to strike in secondary schools. This is expected to be the biggest strike in education for a generation. So many teachers logged in to the union's website to vote when the ballot opened that it crashed. The Royal College of Nursing union is asking NHS nurses to vote in a strike ballot which opens on 6 October. A ballot of workers at Amazon warehouses on whether to hold the first ever strike of Amazon workers in the UK opened on 15 September.

Mick Holden, LFB's delegate on Waltham Forest Trades Council, reports that he and colleagues of the Trades Council have been visiting pickets lines, especially those of the RMT, and have been "well received"

A group of eleven trade unions including the NUJ are bringing a Judicial Review against the outgoing Johnson government's recently introduced "regulations that allow management to bring in agency workers to take the place of workers who are on strike. This action, launched in mid-September, is co-ordinated by the Trades Union Congress - the TUC, of which the NUJ is a part. The unions are represented by Thompsons, lawyers to the TUC and the NUJ.

The regulations on using agency workers in strikes appear to breach Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers freedom of assembly and association. Yes, the Convention is still in force in the UK, despite Brexit, not being an EU institution. They also seem to be in violation of the Employment Agencies Act 1973, which stipulates that trade unions need to be consulted on any such changes. Incoming Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwazi Kwarteng at the end of September pledged that his government will put (additional) new conditions on unions wanting to strike. The TUC is already preparing for a fight over this. Watch this space.

The TUC is organising rallies and actions across the UK under the slogan "We Demand Better". These include a mass lobby of Parliament on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 November. Details are here

© Matt Salusbury