Gannett Newsquest Lancashire And The Industrial Dispute At The Bury Times And Bolton Evening News

EDM number 1050 in 2002-03, proposed by David Chaytor on 09/04/2003.

That this House notes that Gannet, the US parent company of Newsquest Lancashire, recently announced global profits for 2002 of 1.1 billion dollars; further notes that Newsquest Lancashire has announced pre-tax profits for 2001 of ú5.3 million, including a reduction in staffing costs of ú507,000; regrets that starting salaries for graduate trainee journalists at the Bury Times and Bolton Evening News range from only ú10,800 to ú12,000 and for senior journalists from ú14,000 to ú15,390; believes that these are among the lowest in the United Kingdom; and calls on the management of Newsquest Lancashire to engage in constructive dialogue and further negotiations with the National Union of Journalists to achieve an improvement on the current 2 per cent. pay offer.

This motion has been signed by a total of 33 MPs.