NUJ says more than 50 in Newsquest walk-out and industrial action planned for next week

The NUJ claims more than 50 of its members at Newsquest North East in Darlington, which publishes the daily Northern Echo, the Darlington and Stockton Times, the Durham Times and the Advertiser series of free papers, walked out at noon yesterday and stayed out all day in protest against job cuts and a pay freeze.
They returned to work this afternoon but have given management notice of more industrial action next week. The journalists are scheduled to meet again at lunchtime tomorrow – and have informed management of plans to hold a further meeting next Tuesday (January 13).
HoldtheFrontPage reports today:"Newsquest upped the stakes in the row over redundancies at the Northern Echo today by announcing it would dock the pay of journalists who staged a half-day walkout yesterday."
Meanwhile, NUJ members at the Newsquest-owned Press in York have voted to take strike action if compulsory redundancies are imposed at the paper. In a separate ballot, NUJ members voted by 72 per cent to take other forms of industrial action to fight a pay freeze imposed by the company.