Support for striking NUJ members, 26th August

Tomorrow is an important day for the NUJ across Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales as we begin strike action at media group Reach Plc and we are seeking your support.

I would appreciate if this request could be circulated widely. Many trade unions may not be familiar with the name of the company, but you will know their titles and probably engage with journalists and photographers on a regular basis.

NUJ members at Reach are striking for a fair pay rise after receiving an insulting 3 percent or £750 offer. This is against a backdrop of an astronomical £4 million pay package for Reach chief executive Jim Mullen and a £22m shareholder pay out last year.  Journalists across Reach are the company’s main asset and must be recognised as such.

In Ireland, their best-known titles are the Irish Daily Star, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror,  Daily Express and Sunday Express. They also publish RSVP, Dublin Live, Belfast Live, Cork Beo and Galway Beo.

All NUJ members working in PR and communications are being asked NOT to engage with Reach titles on strike days in solidarity with our members. That means not sending media releases and declining requests for interviews or stories tomorrow August 26th and 31st and 14th and 15th September.

In Ireland, the company refuses to recognise the NUJ.  At the Mirror titles, the company only recognises, for bargaining purposes, the British Association of Journalists, which is not affiliated to the TUC. The pro-worker stance taken by the Mirror, which projects itself as a friend of Labour and the trade union movement, is not reflected in the aggressive stance taken by the company towards NUJ members at this time.

In the absence of a central office location in Dublin we are holding a symbolic picket at the Larkin statue, see below at 11am

Dublin – assemble from 11.00am on Friday, August 26th at the Larkin statue on O’Connell Street for a solidarity demonstration.

Belfast – A picket will be place outside the Reach offices at Avenue House, 42-44 Rosemary Street, Belfast, BT1 1QE from 11.00am to 1.00 pm.

A separate demonstration in support of the strike will be held nearby but will be clearly and physically separate from the picket

Seamus Dooley

National Union  of Journalists

National Union of Journalists | Spencer House | Spencer Row off Store Street | Dublin D01 R9T8

info@nuj.ie | 01 8170340 | www.nuj.org.uk