About 160 members of the National Union of Journalists at the Irish Examinerand Evening Echoheld a two-hour work stoppage today in a dispute over pay.
The staff have reacted angrily to a written ultimatum sent to their homes by the papers' owner, Thomas Crosbie Holdings, at the weekend, warning that their contracts will be cut to a day-to-day basis should they persist with industrial action.
Workers, some of whom earn as little as €20,000 per annum, are asking for a 24 per cent pay rise and claim that today's halt to work will not affect the production of the paper and is quite a mild measure under the circumstances.
Speaking to The Irish Times, NUJ organiser Des Fagan said that the company was behaving in a "Scrooge"-like manner and called on it to engage in "real negotiations and put forward proposals that will end this dispute".
Unions representing other workers at the papers have already accepted an 11 per cent pay rise over the next three years. The current pay structure has been in place since 1995 when the company was enduring difficult times, but it has enjoyed more success since then.
Over the past decade members of its staff have not been part of national wage agreements.
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