The Guardian is reporting here that a dispute over wages may be brewing up at the Morning Star after management imposed a 3% pay rise on staff, escalating an existing dispute regarding pay.
Some of the 16 Journalists that work for the Star only earn about £18,000 p.a. all of them are members of the National Union of Journalists.
Political Editor John Haylett earlier this month backed the papers management decision by saying the pay offer was "Generous in a climate where newspapers were closing and staff being retrenched." He Continued by saying "We think the National Union of Journalists is completely out of step with realities."
Journalists are fed up with the low pay and being told each year that they are special cases. The whole episode is soured further by the knowledge that an anonymous consortium recently pledged £500,000, spread over 3 years, to help with the papers running costs. There was however a caveat that the cash could not be used to bolster journalists wage packets.
The imposition of the pay deal has been criticised by Jeremy Dear of the NUJ who is accusing the Morning Star of undermining the collective bargaining process with the "Unilateral Imposition" of the pay deal.
The 16 Journalists are already balloting on strike action, with the result due on 5th February. Perhaps the workers should rise up and throw of the shackles of injustice?
The Morning Star was founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The name changed in 1966 to the Morning Star.
The paper also has an online edition which can be viewed here.
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