Mirror journalists belonging to the British Association of Journalists (BAJ) have voted to accept a 4% pay rise for members earning £60,000 a year and below and a flat £1,000 pay rise for those earning more.
The BAJ, the recognised union for Mirror staff, had pushed for a £1,500 pay rise for those earning more than £70,000, but this was rejected by publisher Reach at the beginning of June.
The union subsequently balloted members on whether to accept the £1,000 pay rise for those on higher salaries, to take industrial action short of a strike, or to ballot for a strike.
Some 55% of those who voted opted to accept the offer.
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The £1,000 figure is an improvement on Reach’s original March offer, which would have seen staff on £60,000 and below receive a 4% pay rise and staff earning more receive no pay rise.
BAJ chapel leaders said in a note to members that they received legal advice that the offer “amounted to age discrimination”, which the company denied.
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Following two further meetings, including one financial modelling session to determine how affordable the union’s counteroffers were, in May the company increased its offer to the £1,000 figure which members have voted to approve.
A final attempt by chapel leadership to increase the payout to £1,500 for those earning above £60,000 was rejected by Reach at the end of June, after BAJ members had already accepted the other offer.
The chapel’s chairs said: “Every meeting and interaction throughout this process involved numerous emails and calls. Therefore, with a heavy heart and great reluctance, our mandate from BAJ members is now to report your acceptance to management.”
A Reach spokesperson declined to comment.
What about Reach staff unionised through the NUJ?
Last year a majority of members at the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which also represents numerous Reach employees including some Mirror journalists, voted to reject a 3% pay rise, leading to a strike that saw more than 1,000 journalists out on picket lines.
A second strike was averted in September when 55% of NUJ members at the company voted to accept a pay rise “ranging from 14% to 44% across the specified roles and minimum rates”, according to the union.
When this year’s 4% pay terms were first proposed in March, NUJ reps at Reach unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in senior management.
A spokesperson for the NUJ told Press Gazette: “The NUJ is still engaged at this time with the company over pay for 2023.”
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