Johnston journalists vote for strike action

The result of the company-wide ballot of NUJ members in Johnston Press is a 70 per cent vote in favour of strike action, the union said today.
The ballot was over what the NUJ claims is Johnston's rushed introduction of a new Atex content management system which the union claims is costing jobs and harming the editorial quality of the company's newspapers.
Ballot result was:
In favour of strike action: yes, 236 (70 %); no, 101 (30%).
Action short of strike: yes, 296,(88.1%); no, 40 (11.9 %).
Turnout was 65.2 per cent.

• NUJ members protested at the Johnston Press annual shareholders' meeting in Edinburgh today. They leafleted outside the meeting while some were inside and grilled executives about the impact of the new editorial management system. "We really hauled them over the coals," said an NUJ official who was at the meeting.