It was another cracking day on the picket line for the York strikers. Due to the work patterns on Sunday we started at 3.30pm, but the line was soon dancing a jig as Fozzy and the Fozzettes were once again on song.
NUJ regional organiser Chris Morley joined us and brought along the Birmingham NUJ Branch banner. About 15 strikers turned out and enjoyed more glorious sunshine while handing out leaflets and getting members of the public to sign our petition for fair pay.Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for York Central Susan Wade Weeks also visited the picket line, following up on her message of support. Susan, who lives locally, said she was pleased to give us her full backing. She has spoken to Newsquest York's managing director Steve Hughes on our behalf to press him to give us a fair pay rise. We are very grateful for her continued support.
Union member Richard Foster, accompanied by his son Daniel, performed the NUJ York strike song Things I Learnt This Year and other numbers including Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life and Part Of The Union, by The Strawbs.
Passing motorists - epsecially bus drivers from First York - were again offering ster
ling support by honking for fair pay. On a similar theme, The Press's former pocket cartoonist, known as Wolf, whose slot was axed when the paper was redesigned last month, sent us a cartoon about our strike, pictured right.
The Press's editor Kevin Booth was back from holiday today - he has missed out on the strike so far - and we were there to greet him as he entered the office.
Tomorrow is the final day of this strike and we'll be out in force. We're planning a march around the city centre followed by a rally at the Minster and a celebratory lunch to mark the end of this action and to plan what comes next.We're determined to continue our fight for decent pay; this is just the beginning.
Countless donations towards our strike fund have been thrown into our bucket by members of the public over the weekend. We now have some £300 pounds in there, which together with a £25 donation from an NUJ member in the US, pushes us close to the £3,750 mark.
However the big news today is that the NUJ's national executive committee (NEC) has agreed to send us £6,000 towards the strike as a down payment for our dispute. This is a simply incredible sum and reaffirms Jeremy Dear's message yesterday that the union nationally is behind us all the way. Officials have stressed that more financial support will be coming our way from the NEC should we need it.
We now have a fighting fund of close to £10,000, giving members the confidence to plan where we go next in battling for fair pay. There's a feeling that union members at (especially Newsquest) papers across the country are willing us on and, given the help we've had, we feel we owe it to them to continue our struggle.
York's rock band royalty are in harmony with our strike. As we approach the final day of our five-day stoppage, our walkout has been backed by former Seahorses singer-songwriter Chris Helme, whose new band The Yards will be performing a charity gig at the Minster on Thursday night.
Helme signed our petition, which is closing in on more than 1,000 signatures, declaring that journalists at The Press and its weekly newspaper, the Gazette & Herald, should be given a fair pay deal.
And in a further boost, Chris Farrell , the lead guitarist with The Yards, has written an eloquent letter to Newsquest York's managing director Steve Hughes backing the NUJ campaign for a decent pay rise. Helme and Farrell said they both "totally supported" the journalists’ fight for a fair pay offer.The three per cent deal proposed by management has been overwhelmingly rejected by the NUJ chapel prompting the five-day stoppage. No fewer than four other companies in the Newsquest empire have been given 3.5 per cent pay deals.
Tickets for The Yards charity gig on Thursday at the Minster - ironically in aid of The Press’s Guardian Angels charity appeal and also the Minster Restoration Fund - are available from Fibbers nightclub and the Church House reception, in Ogleforth.
It was another cracking day on the picket line for the York strikers. Due to the work patterns on Sunday we started at 3.30pm, but the line was soon dancing a jig as Fozzy and the Fozzettes were once again on song.
ling support by honking for fair pay. On a similar theme, The Press's former pocket cartoonist, known as Wolf, whose slot was axed when the paper was redesigned last month, sent us a cartoon about our strike, pictured right.
