Daily
newspapers
Talks
are taking place with Scotsman Publications management
over a new pay structure. Union officers have carried
out an extensive survey and have found anomalous salary
levels, which the company say they are prepared to
address through negotiations. The company has also
sought voluntary redundancies following the absorption
of S2 into the main Scotsman title and talks are ongoing.
The
Daily Record and Sunday Mail chapel has successfully
forced the
management to implement the agreed expenses procedure
after it became clear that editor Peter Cox was ignoring
the process and cutting expenses without explanation.
He has of course now left the paper to general relief
of the editorial workforce. The chapel has just appointed
a freelance rep onto the chapel committee.
We also
had success at the Express in Scotland after the management
in
London tried to deny pay increases for four members
of staff who had
previously been casual. Working with the Express and
Star Chapel in London the union persuaded the company
to cough up the extra cash for the deal.
Freelance
Talks
continue at Newsquest Strathclyde on a new Freelance
Agreement, the first for three years.
Weekly
newspapers
Pay
talks are continuing at various offices including
Clyde & Forth-Ayrshire and Alloa titles and a
vote is taking place by ballot of the Johnston Group
chapel after protracted negotiations over eight months
led to an improved two year offer. The deal is worth
between 5.5 per cent and 8.2 per cent over two years.
Scottish
Provincial Press, the Highlands based group, have
settled on a three per cent increase with agreement
to introduce additional responsibility payments for
staff. The chapels also showed solidarity with local
freelances when they supported an increase in shift
and photographic rates.
Books
The
chapel at Harper Collins had a sweet and sour outcome
to their
opposition to redundancies, preventing one compulsory
job loss but losing three experienced members of staff
who agreed to leave the book giant.
One
of those leaving is the veteran MoC, Val McNulty,
who after 26 years felt it was time for a change although
she has agreed to give support to a new chapel set
up before her exit. Val has been a stalwart for the
NUJ at both chapel and branch level as well as battling
for years as a pension trustee at the company and
will be sorely missed.
Broadcasting
The
bitter pay talks at SMG (STV and Grampian TV) were
settled after long
hard negotiations led to an improved offer which was
unanimously accepted by the first ever e-mail ballot
of the union membership. The deal is worth a minimum
of 5.5 per cent over two years while the company offered
an additional 80 increases for lower paid members
over two years.
The
increases range from 5.5 per cent to 25 per cent in
some cases. However, talks on the introduction of
desktop editing at Grampian TV have ground to a halt
and the union has told the company we are in dispute
over the move.
Although
two BECTU jobs have been saved through the talks,
a deal to satisfy the NUJ chapel fell through after
management shifted ground. NUJ members are now refusing
to handle the new technology until agreement is reached.
Branches
The
NEC has given powers to the Scottish Executive Council
to organise and run an Extraordinary General Meeting
for the West of Scotland Freelance Branch after complaints
against the branch officers. The main complaints were
that they ignored a democratic decision of a branch
meeting and they produced a series of newsletters,
which have brought the union into disrepute.
Paul
Holleran
Scottish Organiser
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