JOURNALISTS working across two companies in Scotland, on titles which include The Scotsman, Daily Record and Sunday Mail, will be taking strike action on Friday August 26.
Staff on Reach plc titles, including the Perthshire Advertiser, Stirling Observer, Dumfries and Galloway Standards and the Live Websites along with the Daily Record, have voted for strike action and action short of a strike.
This comes due to the company’s failure to improve its pay deal of 3%.
The journalists received a 1% pay rise last year and are particularly aggrieved by the £7 million pay packages the company gave to its two top executives.
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The Reach titles will be on strike on August 26 and 31, as well as September 15 and 16.
They have also said they will be working to rule, which means doing no more than what is stipulated in their contracts.
The National World journalists voted for industrial action over compulsory redundancies following ballots at Scotsman Publications; and another for those employed at the company’s Scottish Weeklies.
The dates for the National World action at Scotsman Publications – The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday – have been agreed with journalists striking on August 26 and September 2.
National organiser for Scotland John Toner said: “A meeting with National World management on Monday morning, held at the union’s request, took us no closer to resolving the issues of compulsory redundancies at the Scotsman titles.
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“It now seems likely that those titles will take strike action on Friday August 26, the same day as the NUJ members at Reach are due to take action.
“This would mean The Scotsman and the Daily Record would face strike action on the same day.
“We continue to believe that a resolution is possible, and we are willing to meet the employer at any point for talks.”
A Reach spokesperson said: "We greatly value our journalists and are disappointed that, despite our best efforts during the negotiation process and succesful agreements with Unite and the BAJ, we have been unable to reach an agreement with the NUJ.
"Whilst this is not the outcome we would have wished for, we remain focused on protecting the interests of all our colleagues, ensuring the group has a sustainable future in the face of an uncertain economic backdrop.
"We have contingency plans in place to keep disruption to our titles to a minimum and are working to support our journalists who choose not to take action."
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