Fry pay adds heat to Johnston Press dispute

This isn't going to help staff relations at Johnston Press, where the NUJ is conducting a group wide vote on industrial action.  Press Gazette reports today that the company's chief executive John Fry was paid almost £1,000,000 for his first year in charge.
Press Gazette says: "Fry, who took over as chief executive on 1 January last year, received a total remuneration of £959,000 in 2009 which included a salary of £525,000, cash and deferred share bonuses worth £420,000, with £14,000 of other benefits.
"Over the same period Johnston Press, which publishes the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post, recorded a fall in pre-tax profits of 56 per cent to £43.3m."
Meanwhile MediaGuardian commentator Roy Greenslade has described Johnston's introduction of its new Atex content management system, seen by journalists as a way to cut jobs, as "ham-fisted".

• NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear  yesterday described Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey's £1.68 million pay package as "a bloody disgrace".