Staff at the Financial Times are each receiving a £1,800 payment to help with the cost of living.
A spokesperson for the paper confirmed to Press Gazette that all FT staff would receive the sum as a one-off payment.
It makes the business publication the latest media employer to acknowledge rising costs with financial assistance.
Staff at numerous other publishers, both in the UK and abroad, have been negotiating or striking for pay to reflect inflating prices in recent months.
In August 1,150 Reach journalists staged a strike in protest at an offered 3% pay increase – and a single £200 cost of living payment. Reach announced shortly after that strike that it would unilaterally pay some staff £400 in two payments to relieve the cost of living burden.
Further strikes were called off after NUJ members narrowly voted to accept a new offer from the company. The NUJ said including earlier increases secured in July, “it will see pay rise for these workers in deals ranging from 14 to 44 per cent across the specified roles and minimum rates.”
In May magazine publisher Future issued part of the usual end-of-year bonus to its staff early.
Meanwhile, unionised staff at The New York Times responded this month to lengthy contract discussions with a one-week office boycott. Newsguild members there say they have not seen pay rises since March 2020.
The £1,800 is not the first top-up FT staff have received in the past year: in December, all editorial staff at the business were awarded a £5,600 bonus, along with a sushi and sake party.
[Read more: Sushi, sake and £5,600 bonuses all round – Happy Christmas for FT journalists after ‘exceptional’ 2021]
Things weren’t always so plentiful at the Nikkei-owned publication, however. The December before the bumper bonus announcement, NUJ members balked at simultaneous revelations former editor Lionel Barber was paid £1.92m and 64 staff would be made redundant.
Picture: Financial Times
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