Journalists at Johnston Press‘s Leeds titles are back on the picket line today in an unplanned “strike” – after being told they could not hold a chapel meeting on company property.
Staff at the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and sister titles have held nine days of strikes this year in protest at redundancies and declining quality.
After Wednesday’s one-day strike, the National Union of Journalists chapel told management their planned meeting on Thursday was cancelled.
This, according to the NUJ left “red-faced” management with an “unnecessary bill for the strikebreaking services of the Press Association”.
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And, when the chapel announced a meeting this morning, they were told they could not hold it in the newspapers’ offices.
Instead, journalists went outside for a “meeting” on the picket line. Legally, it cannot be called a strike, as due notice was not given.
The nearby Public and Commercial Services Union has also allowed the chapel use of its building as a base.
Another one-day strike is due tomorrow, and the chapel today announced a further one-day strike for Wednesday 11 March.
Johnston Press also faces a strike at the Derry Journal in Northern Ireland, after staff voted 88 per cent in favour of industrial action in a ballot last week.
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