That Friday feeling...

Another Friday afternoon, another letter from managing director Steve Hughes lands on the chapel's desk. You have to admire management for their consistency - we could set our watches by these 4.50pm letters. In any case, negotiations over our 2008 pay award are still ongoing. We'll report here when there's some concrete progress.

In more encouraging news, the chapel strike fund today received a brilliant donation of £400 from the Oxford NUJ Branch. Our thanks to our fellow trade unionists there, many of whom have experience of Newsquest's corrosive policies first-hand at the Oxford Mail.

Talking about the dispute

Following a visit to the TUC Trades Councils Conference in Sheffield last weekend, we were invited to speak at Leeds Trades Union Council (TUC) about our dispute.

Joint Father of Chapel Sam Southgate attended the TUC's meeting last night and gave the background to our five-day strike in May, where the situation is now with the planned redundancies and the ongoing negotiations. (Chapel and national NUJ officers met with management and ACAS yesterday but a deal has not been agreed.)

There was a good discussion about the dispute in a question and answer session and Leeds TUC donated £50 towards the chapel's strike fund, for which we are very grateful.

Spreading the word in Sheffield

Joint Father of Chapel Sam Southgate addresses the TUC Trades Councils' Conference. Picture: Sid Frisby

We were honoured to be invited by NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear to speak at the TUC Trades Councils' Conference 2008 at Sheffield Town Hall, which was held over the weekend.

Joint Father of Chapel Sam Southgate went along and told about 70 delegates from all over the country of our five-day strike, the background to the dispute and Newsquest's policies, and our continuing campaign for decent pay. Many delegates were based in areas where Newsquest has operations, so they understood well what we are up against. Others said two of the key issues raised during the conference were how to encourage young trade unionists (the majority of our members at The Press and the Gazette & Herald are in their 20s) and how to assist those involved in disputes, so our appeal was a perfect fit.

A motion was passed to urge delegates to do all they could to back NUJ members in York - including signing our petition, pressing MPs to sign our Early Day Motion, and sending messages of solidarity and donations for our strike fund. A collection among delegates during the conference raised £210 for our fund - an amazing sum for which we offer sincere thanks.

If you would like an NUJ member from Newsquest York to speak at your union branch or chapel meeting, please get in touch by emailing nujyork@gmail.com

Pay campaign in the House

Our Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons continues to go from stength to strength - with 24 MPs now signed up. The latest members to have signed EDM 1639 are Labour MPs: Tony Lloyd, David Anderson, Colin Burgon, Alan Simpson, David Hamilton, and Rudi Vis, plus Liberal Democrat Bob Russell.

To view the full text of the EDM 1639, click here. If your MP isn't listed, please urge them to sign the EDM by contacting them through www.writetothem.com

We have also been boosted this week by a £200 donation from South Yorkshire NUJ Branch towards our strike fund - a magnificent sum, so thanks go to our colleagues there.

Topping up the strike fund

During our five-day strike nearly all members lost out on pay, so our strike fund has compensated members to make sure they suffer no hardship as a result. This has reduced our strike fund. Fortunately, we have received considerable donations over the last few days to make up for some of the shortfall.

The NUJ Chapel at Newsquest Glasgow, who are struggling against the company's cuts and drive for profit at the cost of quality, sent a donation of £200 to our strike fund. A collection at the Northern Echo in Darlington, also a Newsquest title, brought in £131 for the fund. The Birmingham and Coventry NUJ Branch sent us £300, following an earlier donation of £350. Fellow Newsquest colleagues at the Oxford Mail sent us £50, as did friends at the Darlington NUJ Chapel. We also received individual donations totalling £50.

The chapel offers its wholehearted thanks to all these supporters.

Hitting the road

Given the huge amount of support we've received from fellow trade unionists and NUJ members, we want to make an effort to visit other chapels and branches to speak about our fight and to share any experiences we can.

One of our members travelled to Middlesbrough for the NUJ Teesside Branch meeting yesterday afternoon and told journalists there about our pay fight and why we decided to strike this time after suffering years of below-inflation pay rises. Teesside members generously donated £300 towards the chapel's strike fund.

At the same time, joint Father of Chapel Sam Southgate attended a Unison branch meeting at City of York Council's Guildhall. He spoke about the background to the dispute with Newsquest and the current situation. The council employees, who are currently in the middle of national strike ballot over a derisory 2.45% pay offer, expressed their solidarity with NUJ members in York and donated £100 towards our strike fund.

If you would like NUJ members from York to speak at your union branch or chapel meeting, please get in touch by emailing us at nujyork@gmail.com

Support for campaign runs deep

Our strike fund is edging steadily towards the £10,000 mark after two significant donations today. We received £100 from Newcastle Branch as well as a £40 donation from a supporter in Tyneside.

Meanwhile, we are on the cusp of smashing through the 1,000-signature barrier with our petition for fair pay. We now have an online version of the petition, so please log on and add your name.

Below are two further messages of support that arrived today:

Lively, imaginative action
To all members on strike at the Press. It was great to meet some of you down on the picket line today. I've been really impressed by the lively and imaginative nature of your strike. This note is just to convey a message of support to you from University of York. Let's hope come round to giving you the pay you deserve! In solidarity,
James Cussens, University of York UCU secretary

Trail-blazing strike
Add our support for your courageous and trail-blazing action.
Gloria McShane, chair, Teesside branch

Chapel fighting fund nears £10k

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.

Canada high

Support for our strike has attracted global support. Messages backing our stance have ranged from as far afield as the United States of America, Singapore and Romania.

But one of the most endearing was from a care worker in Canada who was holidaying in York. He asked was there any way of contributing to the strike fund and when being told there was a collection bucket, he proceeded to put in a sizeable amount of cash.

Pressed as to why he should be so generous, he recalled how he and his co-workers had undertaken their first strike for three decades in his native Canada.

He said: "The local newspaper there was extremely supportive to our campaign for fair pay and through their assistance we were able to win a 25 per cent pay deal. I hope yourselves at York achieve your demand for fair pay. It is vital that unions stick together and fight for what they believe to be right."

Donations still pouring in

The strike fund is still going strong. Today we had £180 donated by one good friend of the union and about £50 from members of the public, no doubt helped by Daniel's fine fiddling.

Yesterday afternoon, Richard Edwards of the Leeds NUJ Branch paid a visit to our picket line. He had whip-round among his workmates at the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post which raised an extra £138 for our strike fund. This was incredible given that the chapel and branch had together already donated £750. So we owe a big thank you to Leeds members.

This all takes our total of received and pledged donations to somewhere near £3,600 - a simply incredible figure. We never expected to received such wonderful solidarity, so thank you all.

Strke fund is still on the up

Our strike fund smashed through the £3k barrier today thanks to a £300 donation from the NUJ Newsquest Bradford Chapel and about £50 donated by members of the public.

In his letter to the York strikers, Bradford Father of Chapel, Bob Smith, said:

On behalf of members of the Newsquest Bradford Chapel, I'd like to wish you success with your action in support of better pay and conditions.

Newsquest makes vast profits on the backs of its workers and ships most of it back to its US shareholders. Investment in its companies is minimal and its long-term strategy non-existent. NUJ members' standards of living fall further with every below-inflation wage settlement the company offers. How your managing director Steve Hughes can call a three per cent offer "increasingly attractive" when inflation is soaring above four per cent and food prices are up by more than seven per cent is mindboggling and shows how out of touch our managers are.

Hughes's take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum with the company's offer indicates a Victorian vindictiveness which is completely out of place in the 21st century.

All of which is why we applaud your decision to take strike action, and why I and my chapel members are right behind you. Your fight is for every journalist in Newsquest and is vital at a time when management are set to hack even more resources from a company which has already been pared to the bone.

Thanks very much to Bob and all those at Bradford for showing such wonderful solidarity. Please everyone, keep the donations coming.

£3k to fight for fair pay

Our strike fund goes from strength to strength. On the eve of the strike the total broke through the £2,000 mark. Now - after only one day's action - we are headed towards £3,000. Some of the superb donations we received today included:

• £300 from the Oxford branch
• £100 from the South Yorkshire NUJ Branch and Rotherham Advertiser
• £50 from a much-missed former colleague
• £50 from the Mother of Chapel at Coventry Newspapers
• £75 from our NUJ organiser
• £50 from the Doncaster Free Press Chapel

We also had a pledge of a donation from Bradford Telegraph & Argus NUJ Chapel and members of the public threw about £50 into our collection bucket.

That takes us to a grand total of £2,725 - simply unbelievable. Please everyone, keep the donations coming. Thank you to all who have shown such wonderful solidarity.

Fund tops £2k on eve of strike

As the clock ticks towards the launch of our strike action - we officially walkout at midnight - our strike fund has edged over the £2,000 mark. This is thanks to four very generous individual donations and funds from another NUJ chapel.

Our colleague and fellow union member, reporter Mark Stead , has given the fund £100 of his birthday money (for missing so many chapel meetings, he says). Then friends at Doncaster Free Press NUJ chapel pledged £50. The Mother of Chapel at Coventry Newspapers sent in £50 and Viriditas Opera - a York-based ensemble - sent us £50 on account of publicity for a forthcoming show likely being used in The Press during the strike. We also received an anonymous donation of £50.

This takes our total to £2,050 - a fantastic effort. The whole chapel sends its sincere thanks to everyone who has donated. More donations would be very welcome.

Digging deep

More wonderful news on the strike fund. Our colleagues at the Leeds NUJ Branch have donated £250, while fellow journalists in the 50-strong Bolton News-Bury Times chapel - papers both owned by Newsquest - have pledged £300. It makes a huge difference knowing we are not standing alone and that we have the support of fellow journalists and trade unionists.

These generous donations take our strike fund to £1,750 - a tremendous figure reached within five days of our action being called. Many thanks to all.

Strike fund gets another boost

Our strike fund has been boosted still further after the Rotherham branch donated £100 from their fighting fund. We also owe a debt of gratitude to two more of our own chapel members who have both donated £50 to the fund. That takes our total to an impressive £1,200. Preparations are now well underway for the five strike days next week so please keep branch, chapel and individual donations coming. We are enormously grateful for all the support we've had so far.

Strike fund tops £1,000

The support we've had from fellow journalists and trade unionists since announcing our strike has been overwhelming. In the last half-hour £350 has been donated to our strike fund by the Birmingham and Coventry NUJ Branch, and and another £500 has been pledged from the Yorkshire Evening Post/Yorkshire Post joint NUJ chapel. Our strike fund has now hit the £1,000 mark. An enormous thank you to everyone who has so far pledged their support.

Strke fund already growing

Management were only notified of our planned strike action an hour ago and we're already getting messages of support. The NUJ's Manchester Branch has sent their best wishes and pledged a donation of £100 towards our strike fund. Meanwhile, one of our members who is on holiday for the duration of the strike, business editor Ron Godfrey, has donated £50 to the fund. Sincere thanks to everyone.