Journalists in Ireland and Britain on strike after pay talks break down

Journalist Michael O' Toole, third from right, and colleagues striking in front of Jim Larkin. Picture: Michael O' Toole

Journalists at Reach Plc newspapers in Ireland and across Britain are beginning a strike on Wednesday after talks to resolve a pay dispute broke down. 

NUJ members stood alongside the 1,150 journalists taking part in one of the most significant walkouts the company has seen from papers including the Mirror, Star, Express, Daily Record, Sunday Mail, Western Mail, Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Bristol Post, Birmingham Mail, The Journal, South Wales Evening Post and the Live websites including Dublin Live, and Belfast Live. 

A solidarity gathering took place at the Larkin Statue on O'Connell Street in Dublin at 11am on Wednesday, led by the Irish Executive council of the NUJ. 

Members of the union are also picketing the Reach offices at Rosemary Street in Belfast. 

Reach journalists and NUJ members participating in the strike have pointed out the contrast in their pay packets and that of chief executive Jim Mullen. 

Irish secretary Séamus Dooley said: "It is fitting that we gather at a place associated with the foundation of the Irish trade union leader.

"Larkin is remembered as someone who brought workers out on the street but also as a strong and determined negotiator. We have been brought to this position by the intransigence of Reach Plc’s CEO Jim Mullen. 

"Larkin’s great rival William Martin Murphy, himself a newspaper publisher, would probably blush at the sheer effrontery of a man in receipt of a £4m [€4.6m] pay package refusing to enter into meaningful negotiations with a trade union. 

"The two top executives take £7m from the company yet claim the company cannot afford realistic pay increases for overworked and underpaid staff. It is time for Reach Plc to get real," he added. 

Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ general secretary, said while union members accepted the company's invitation to talks brokered by the ACAS, the "lack of willingness on the part of the Reach chief executive Jim Mullen to budge an inch meant the negotiations were doomed to failure".

"This is a business with cash in the bank, a business that is happy to spend £7m on lavish pay packages for its top two executives, a business that is about to hand over a further £4m to shareholders," she added. 

Labour Party Senator and spokesperson for Employment Affairs, Marie Sherlock has today said that management at Reach newspapers must respect its workers and negotiate with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) on fair pay and conditions.

Speaking at a solidarity action in support of over 1,150 striking journalists across Ireland and the UK in Dublin today, Senator Sherlock said: “Right now, far too many journalists and media workers are being paid far too little for the sheer volume and variety of work they produce every single day of the week.

"Journalists do a vital job holding power to account. They deserve fair pay and should not have to take this strike action.

"Management at Reach need to get their act together and genuinely engage with NUJ representatives rather than refuse point blank to come to a negotiated settlement, particularly at a time when top executives and shareholders at the company are raking it in."