Journalists at the Lancet vote for industrial action
NUJ members at the Lancet have overwhelmingly voted in favour of industrial action as part of their long running pay dispute with managers.
The ballot results showed 94.51% supported strike action and 97.8% supported action short of a strike on a turnout of 87.5%.
The union issued notice of the ballot last month after members at the Lancet NUJ Chapel overwhelmingly rejected the company's pay offer following extensive negotiations.
Staff at The Lancet have absorbed rising workloads, increasing expectations and sustained inflation. This has led to a reduction of the real terms value of their salaries, leaving many employees significantly worse off than they were five years ago despite their growing experience, expertise, and responsibilities.
Alex Maguire, NUJ organiser, said:
"While it is unfortunate that the outcome reached at ACAS was not good enough for the chapel to accept, this result demonstrates the strength of feeling amongst our members.
"We have now served notice to the company that members will engage in action short of strike action from 14 September to the 21 September, then strike for one day on the 22 September before resuming action short of strike action until the end of September.
"It is not too late for the company to resolve this dispute. However, any resolution is contingent on the company providing members with a sufficiently improved offer."