Guardian’s 24/7 Integration: Strike Averted, Peace Breaks Out
By Robert Andrews - Mon 03 Dec 2007 05:29 AM PST
Peace has broken out at Guardian News & Media over the publisher’s all-important multiplatform integration plan. NUJ members had at one point tabled a strike ballot over plans to increase the working week from 35 to 40 hours, scrap a cap on nine days continuous working in any fortnight and ask web staff to work on the web as The Guardian attempts to move from a 16-hour-a-day operation to 24/7. But now journalists at both The Guardian and The Observer have voted for a deal that compels them ”to be available to work across different media within all GNM editorial departments as assigned by their editors”. They voted for the proposed 4.8 percent pay rise, with another inflation-related hike in April, with a new security-of-employment clause covering redundancies, which will happen in “extreme circumstances”. The minimum salary rises 7.1 percent to £30,000 in April. Some 145 staff will now move from working nine-day fortnights to five-day weeks. This paves the way for the further integration not just of The Guardian and Guardian Unlimited but also with The Observer.
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