The National Union of Journalists has decided to refer a dispute with regional newspaper employers over the pay and conditions of some 200 of its members, to the Labour Relations Commission.
The decision was taken by the union's Irish Executive Council at a weekend emergency meeting where the Regional Newspapers Association of Ireland (RNAI) was condemned for refusing to take part in a benchmarking exercise "aimed at ending the scandal of low pay in the local newspaper sector".
The union is seeking the updating of a 30-year-old national agreement for journalists employed by regional newspapers, including an improvement in minimum rates of pay.
"The RNAI negotiating team has insisted that most newspapers pay significantly above the minimum rates," the NUJ's Irish secretary, Mr Seamus Dooley, said. "They claimed they had verified this through a survey carried out by IBEC." Yet the employers had refused to share the information, he added.
The union is also seeking an improvement in pensions. The RNAI is seeking productivity measures in return for any improvement in pensions, according to a report in Industrial Relations News.