STV staff vote overwhelmingly for industrial action
Members of both the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Bectu at STV News have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over a pay dispute in one of the first strike ballots to be held under the new Employment Rights Act.
The NUJ ballot showed 84% in favour of strike action and 94% for action short of a strike on a turnout of 73.5%. A parallel ballot run by Bectu, who represent technical staff, showed 73% for strike action and 82% for action short of a strike on a turnout of 57%.
The ballot began on 18 February - the day the Employment Rights Act came into force. The mandate for legally held industrial action is now twelve months, instead of six months, and only ten days notice for industrial action is needed, when it was two weeks previously.
STV management have so far refused to move on a 0% pay offer, saying they cannot afford any improved offer due to financial constraints. The NUJ has accused the broadcaster of financial mismanagement.
STV yesterday announced that STV News at 6 was the most watched news programme in Scotland for the 7th year in a row, with a 30% viewing share, and average monthly online views of STV News had more than doubled in 2025 to 66m.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ National Organiser for Scotland, said:
“Journalists and technical staff have worked hard to make STV News at 6 the most popular news programme in Scotland for seven years in a row, and instead of being rewarded, they are being made to pay for the debts run up under chief executive Rufus Radcliffe. If STV have the money to launch a new radio station amid their financial crisis, then they have money to reward their news staff fairly.”
The NUJ has a separate existing ballot held in December over compulsory redundancies and increased workload, and has so far held one day of industrial action on 7 January, which took STV News programming off air.
The company has asked Ofcom for permission to produce a single News at 6 programme across both of its licence areas, but the regulator announced last week that it was delaying publishing that decision until after the Scottish elections in May. The controversial move is opposed by 84% of viewers, as well as the leaders of the five main political parties in Scotland, unions and STV’s own journalists.
The broadcaster owns the only two channel 3 licences outside the ITV network, as well as a radio station launched last year and a number of production studios. The value of the company has halved following a profits warning in July 2025.
The full year financial results for 2025 published yesterday showed a fall in revenue to £176.9m (2024: £188m) with adjusted operating profit of £11.6m, down from £20.6m in 2024.