Journalists at Northern Ireland’s largest weekly newspaper group have voted for a strike over pay and trade union recognition.
The National Union of Journalists says its members at the Tyrone-based Alpha Newspapers have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action.
According to the ballot results, members at two flagship titles - the Coleraine Chronicle and Northern Constitution - voted 87.5% in favour of strike action while members in other papers in the group voted 100% in favour.
They are the Antrim and Ballymena Guardian, the Tyrone Times, the Newry Democrat, the Ulster Gazette and the County Down Outlook.
The ballot was held after talks at which Alpha would not sign a trade recognition agreement. The company refused to disclose information requested by the union for the purposes of collective bargaining. The NUJ is confident that Alpha can afford its claim for a 14.5% pay rise.
In recent months, NUJ membership at Alpha’s newspapers has increased from 29% to more than 85% of the eligible staff. It has named Alpha as “one of the lowest paying newspaper groups in the country.”
Nicola Coleman, the NUJ Irish organiser, said: “More than 30% of journalists employed by the company earn just a living wage, in many cases despite years of service.
“Our members see the link between trade union recognition, bargaining rights and decent pay. They recognise that their current situation is a direct result of their employer smashing the previous collective agreement and they are determined to fight for a union recognition agreement and a collectively agreed incremental salary scale that is fair.”
Alpha is partly owned, and chaired, by the former Ulster Unionist politician Lord Kilclooney (the former John Taylor). Aside from its publication of some 15 weekly papers, it also has local radio interests.
