Informed 05 Update Nature Springer pay dispute resolved Mark Tomas


Te Nature Springer chapel members may have been strangers to industrial action, but a hugely successful campaign and a threat of eight days of strike action over two months ratled its management and resulted in an overwhelmingly accepted deal. Te collection of 60-plus journals, which includes the world’s leading science publication, Nature, has been owned by international publisher, Springer Nature, since 2015. Te members won the argument that their experience, expertise and talent were not being rewarded by a hugely profitable business. A 5.8 per cent offer was rejected because the members said wage stagnation could not keep up with increases in rent, food bills and general cost of living. “My monthly mortgage payments are


up by 23 per cent – they are now 41 per cent of my take-home pay. My weekly shopping bill is up 15 per cent (despite atempting to cut back). Now I have to spend double on commuting to the office,” said a typical member. A leter to Springer Nature top brass asking for support from the scientific and academic community said: “Springer Nature made over $500m in operating profit in 2022, a 27 per cent margin. Tey have recently quietly increased their open-access article processing fees on Nature journals to $12,290, but they say they can’t afford to pay their staff a fair wage.” It garnered more than 1,100


Training consultation Many members have taken up the opportunity for free in-person newsroom leadership training, held in centres across the union’s nations and regions, alongside a separate offering of online news verification


Te lively picket line won solidarity visits from members of the IFJ and others


signatories, including more Nobel Prize winners than you could shake a stick at. Professor Ben List, director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cologne and 2021 Nobel Prize winner for chemistry, said: “Science should not be the subject of greed, but rather of openness, freedom, enthusiasm, and fairness.” Tere were two days of strike action, accompanied by carnival-style picket lines, a strikers’ soundtrack which can be downloaded from Spotify and huge solidarity from across the NUJ and union movement, all sustained by home- baked NUJ cookies. A posse from the International Federation of Journalists


skill sessions. Both courses were funded by Google News Lab. Te last DM called for a consultation on this external funding, and members and branches are encouraged to send in feedback and responses to campaigns@ nuj.org.uk. Log on to the


website and read the Funding report.


Reach hub Chris Morley, senior organiser Northern & Midlands, reported a quiet period on the redundancy front for newspapers, but plenty of


joined the strikers on day one, as did Lord Hendry and his dog named Bob. It all brought the management to a table with the union and ACAS. Te deal agreed was accepted by Springer Nature staff and the two sides have an agreement to establish “increased and regular communications going forward”. At the last NEC meeting, STV was in the middle of strike action, also over pay. However, Nick McGowan-Lowe, national organiser Scotland, reported that, when talks were resumed, Michelle Stanistreet’s intervention was crucial to the company making an improved offer and an agreement to negotiate with the NUJ over workload concerns.


work dealing with structural changes, pay and individual cases. Te union supported members moving to Reach’s new 300-person hub to produce group-wide content and on joining a new health and safety commitee.


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