Journalists threaten strike

Press, 5 April 1989, Page 3

Journalists threaten strike

Television New Zealand journalists are threatening a 24-hour strike on Monday over an impasse in their award negotiations. A strike would disrupt news and current affairs programmes, possibly putting some programmes off the air, said Mr Jim Greenhough, the chairman of the TVNZ journalists’ group within the Public Service Association. It would go ahead unless the company either put up “a decent offer” or agreed to take the dispute to arbitration, he said. ;i The journalists were seekirig a roll-over of existing conditions, and

a 4.5 per cent wage rise. They had had relativity in the past with newspaper journalists, who received 4.5 per cent in the present pay round, Mr Greenhough said. They had also assumed a 4 per cent margin for the introduction of new technology (computerised news processing) last year would carry over, but TVNZ was now saying that was a one-off payment. The company was offering to guarantee a pay rise at least equivalent to what other TVNZ staff get, which was likely to be 2 to 3 per cent, said Mr Greenhough. But without the new-technology margin.

that would effectively be a decrease. Mr Greenhough said that under old State sector rules, a disagreement would go to arbitration if one side demanded it. Now, both sides had to agree to arbitration, and TVNZ was refusing. “TVNZ clearly feels its case is not good enough,” he said. TVNZ’s controller of news, Mr Paul Norris, said the company would respond to the journalists' latest position within a day or two, r ~and he hoped that would avert the strike.