Brighton Argus journalists vote to strike

Journalists at the Argus offices in Brighton have voted to strike.

They balloted after a proposal to move editorial production jobs to Weymouth in Dorset, redundancies and the effect that this will have on workloads and editorial quality.

Almost two thirds of National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members – or 63.6 per cent – at the newspaper offices in Crowhurst Road, Hollingbury, voted in favour of going on strike.

Previously jobs have been switched to Southampton along with the printing contract for the paper.

NUJ members look likely to strike at the same time as colleagues in London and the north west of England.

The union’s national organiser Laura Davison said: “NUJ members in south London and Brighton are committed to producing quality local journalism.

“They can’t stand by while (Argus owner) Newsquest cuts costs, closes offices and titles, holds down pay, piles up the work and makes experienced journalists redundant with little compensation.

“These results show members will take a stand to highlight the damage being done to their local titles.

“People who want their communities to have strong vibrant news content which holds power to account should back these NUJ members in any action they decide to take and ask Newsquest to stop, listen and act on their legitimate concerns.”

The union said that it was still waiting for a reply from Henry Faure Walker, Newsquest chief executive, to a letter sent on Friday 30 May calling for talks about the disputes.

Members of the union chapel in Brighton are due to meet tomorrow (Wednesday 11 June) to discuss what action to take and when.

Newsquest, the company which owns the Argus, is itself owned by the American business Gannett.