The Guardian has agreed a two-year pay deal that will see the salaries of most of its journalists increase by 3%, backdated to the start of April.
The deal will apply to all Guardian News and Media staff on permanent or fixed-term contracts who are unionised via the National Union of Journalists chapel.
In the second year of the deal, from 1 April 2025, NUJ staff on those contracts will receive a further salary increase of either 2.5% or the February 2025 rate of CPI, whichever is higher.
These boosts come on top of a £2,000 salary increase for all staff in April.
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The deal comes after GNM closed a voluntary redundancy round that saw around 30 journalists, including several high-profile names, leave the organisation.
The company is due this month to publish its accounts for the 2023 financial year, which in February were forecast to show a £39m deficit.
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At the time GNM attributed the issue in large part to “the downturn in ad revenues affecting all media organisations”, although reader revenue, while up year-on-year, also lagged behind budget in the first quarter of the financial year. In the preceding financial year, ending 31 March 2023, the company increased revenue for the fourth year in a row but reported a £21m loss.
In April 2022 GNM awarded “the majority of staff” a pay rise of at least 5.5%, with higher percentages for those making £45,000 or less. Also that year, amid the cost of living crisis, the company made a £1,000 one-off payment to staff earning £45,000 or less.
Guardian chief financial and operating officer Keith Underwood told the FT Strategies News in the Digital Age conference this month that GNM was preparing to launch an e-commerce platform as part of a push for further revenue diversification. Currently the publisher raises much of its revenue through direct reader support, its legacy print product and print and digital advertising: the e-commerce bid will see it generate additional income when customers make purchases through its website.
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