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August 16, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 4:29pm

Trinity Mirror strike breakthrough

By Press Gazette

Sarah Lagan
After weeks of
negotiations and 25 days of strike action, journalists at Trinity
Mirror’s Coventry newspapers go back to work tomorrow.
According to the NUJ, Trinity
Mirror has assured strikers that their concerns will be fully addressed
in the next pay negotiations and the Coventry NUJ chapel has recommended that
journalists return to work.
The news came after
several days of negotiations including a private meeting between union
general secretary Jeremy Dear and Coventry Newspapers managing director
David Faulkner.
Around 43 out of 70 journalists have taken part
in the strikes which were prompted when Trinity Mirror imposed a pay
rise of 2.75 per cent with £200 extra on minimum
rates in July.
The chapel abandoned their claim and instead asked the
company to “honour its promise” for a competency-based pay structure by
January, claiming Trinity had pledged it would be in place by April
this year.
Senior journalists working on the weekly Coventry titles start on £14,000 a year and the starting rate for trainees is
£11,500 a year.resrouce
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear said: “The courage and determination
of the Coventry Chapel has been an inspiration to us all. Their unity
has never wavered and they should feel very proud. Work has already
begun behind the scenes to deliver significantly improved pay and we
are satisfied enough progress has been made to suspend the current
action – but it is vital we see concrete results soon or further action
may follow.”
Journalists at the Coventry Newspapers NUJ chape agreed to go back to work after meeting this afternoon.
Mother of the chapel Barbara Goulden said: “It’s been a very solid
action we have kept our spirits up even though it’s been a long haul. I
still feel we have been treated badly. They have only agreed to address
the offer of low pay but we thought there’s no point staying out over
something that is not going to happen until April. We wanted to give
them a chance to show us they mean business.”

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