Better off working for McDonald’s

ADM CHEERED Ken Smith from the South Wales Evening Post in Swansea, part of the Northcliffe Newspapers group, where a determined chapel is fighting for union recognition.

He said pay at the paper was so bad that when one member did a “day in the life” feature as a trainee manager at McDonald’s, she was offered the job for more than she was earning on the paper. “She said she would have enjoyed the job more and there was less pressure.”

Staff had been incensed when a Sunday working payment was stopped, cutting up to £2,000 a year from some people’s pay. A petition to the editor and newsroom meetings were ignored. It was then that journalists realised the NUJ chapel had to be rebuilt and the drive for recognition began.

“We decided to get organised,” said Ken Smith. “We have practically doubled union membership from 23 to 47 which gives us 60 per cent of the workforce.”

The chapel put in a request for voluntary recognition, which was turned down, so now it was having to follow the statutory route, which meant the use of union-busting tactics by the company. Individuals had been pressured.

At the same time, he said, managers were providing coffee and muffins for subs on press day. But there had been advances on sick pay and mileage. “We’ve built up something now, particularly among young journalists, that we are confident is going to stay. We are not going to go away.”

THE UNION will make the recruitment of new members a priority over the next year, ADM agreed. It will focus on the new media, aiming to attract bloggers, web designers and editors.

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists