news First walkout in 200 years at The Lancet


NUJ members at The Lancet went on strike for a day in September over pay – the first time workers have walked out in the company’s 200-year history. Strikers formed picket lines outside the two entrances of the Lancet Group’s London HQ holding placards demanding Fair Pay Now and Solidarity for Science. Workers at The Lancet


Group, which produces 29 monthly specialty titles as well as the weekly journal, also held action short of a strike across two weeks in September.


They feel they have absorbed rising workloads, increasing expectations and sustained inflation in recent


years. This has led to a reduction in the real-terms value of their salaries, leaving many staff significantly worse off than they were five years ago despite their growing experience, expertise and responsibilities. At least 120 members of the scientific community signed an open letter expressing their support for NUJ members in the lead-up to the action.


The union balloted members after the Lancet chapel overwhelmingly rejected the company’s pay offer following extensive negotiations. Members’ strength of feeling was reflected in the ballot results, with 94.5 per cent supporting strike action and


97.8 per cent supporting action short of a strike on a turnout of 87.5 per cent. The Lancet has failed to offer a significant real-terms pay increase to staff despite the company which owns it,


Elsevier, making an adjusted operating profit of £1.035 billion in 2025, translating to a seven per cent underlying profit increase and a 38 per cent profit margin. Speaking on the picket


line, Gavin Cleaver, NUJ Lancet representative, said: “We all know in the last five years our pay has gone down massively while costs have gone up hugely. “I want to say how proud I am of everyone organising over the past couple of years. We’ve gone from nothing to this picket line in almost no time whatsoever. It’s extraordinary and a


SAM TAYLOR


testament to the passion and commitment of everyone. “As long as we stick together, then we will win.”


Union demands raised in parliament


NUJ parliamentary group chair Rebecca Long-Bailey MP put forward the union’s calls to protect public service broadcasting and independent journalism. In August, the union responded to the


government’s consultation on plans to stop the spread


of misinformation on social media and reshape TV distribution and regulation. Following an initial debate


in July, MPs gathered in Westminster Hall in early September. After strongly welcoming the government’s ‘intention to tackle misinformation’ in


her opening remarks, Long-Bailey said “a crucial question that follows is who will decide what is trustworthy – it cannot be ministers, and it certainly cannot be the tech giants”. She said consideration should be given to an independent accreditation


scheme chaired by and representing journalists, the industry and civil society – similar to that of the Press Council of Ireland. She said: “To be clear, trustworthy news has to mean more than public service broadcasting. That is a central pillar, of course,


but it must include other outlets, independent publications and freelance journalists who meet recognised standards. “The government should


support prominence for trustworthy news online, but that prominence must not become de-ranking by another name for journalists who challenge those in power.”


Vigil calls for justice for O’Hagan 25 years on


NUJ members gathered in Belfast in late September to mark the 25th anniversary of the killing of journalist Martin O’Hagan and demand justice. O’Hagan, who was secretary of the NUJ


Belfast and district branch and an investigative journalist for Sunday World, was murdered by the Loyalist Volunteer Force while walking home with his wife Marie from the pub in Lurgan on September 28 2001. No one has been convicted of his murder. The vigil, organised by the Belfast and district branch, was held outside the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland’s office in Writer’s Square.


The union has called for the release of the


Police Ombudsman’s report, commissioned in 2013, into police handling of O’Hagan’s murder, and for an independent investigation. The vigil was led by Fran McNulty, NUJ joint president, with Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, Seamus Dooley, Irish secretary, and Martin’s daughters Niamh and Tina also in attendance. Kevin Cooper, O’Hagan’s branch colleague, introduced proceedings, unfurling a branch banner marking the NUJ’s 25-year campaign for justice.


Davison said that NUJ would seek an urgent meeting with the Ombudsman.


theJournalist | 05 “


I am proud of everyone organising. We’ve gone from nothing to this picket line in almost no time


Gavin Cleaver NUJ Lancet representative


KEVIN COOPER – PHOTOLINEPIC@GMAIL.COM


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