Newsquest extends pay offer to Southampton

Newsquest has extended it 2 per cent pay offer to journalists in Southampton, where NUJ members staged a three-day strike last week and joined a demo outside the company's Weybridge headquarters.

HoldtheFrontPage reports that Newsquest had made a 2 per cent pay offer to journalists at its Glasgow, Darlington, York and Bradford centres, helping to avert the threat of a company-wide stoppage last week.

It adds: "Journalists at the Southern Daily Echo went ahead with three days of strike action as it was unclear whether the pay offer would be extended to other titles in the group. However the National Union of Journalists has now revealed that the offer was made to Echo journalists on Friday, the third day of last week's three-day strike. In a statement issued last night, the NUJ chapel at the paper said the move demonstrated the success of their strike action."

• A journalist at the Newsquest-owned The Argus, Brighton, whose NUJ members also held a strike last week, has told Journalism.co.uk today that the 2 per cent offer has also been made but not yet accepted by union members at the newspaper.

Pic: Argus NUJ