Barry Fitzpatrick, head of publishing for the NUJ, gave notice of the plans to Newsquest's managing director for Hampshire, Stewart Dunn yesterday. Fitzpatrick has asked for a meeting to be held between NUJ representatives and Newsquest management, he told Journalism.co.uk.
"The strike has been called off on the basis that we will have a talk, not on the basis that no further industrial action will take place," Fitzpatrick said.
Dunn was not available for comment at time of writing, Journalism.co.uk was told.
The strike was planned following two days of action last week involving members of editorial staff at the Echo. The industrial action has focused on a dispute over pay at the paper, where pay has been frozen since 2008, and plans to close its staff pension scheme to future accrual, which the group last week announced would go ahead with future pension growth ending on 31 March 2011.
"Last week's strike was a last resort after months of fruitless negotiations. Members felt there is no alternative but now we are offering management another chance to negotiate with us. We have offered major concessions such as accepting a zero per cent settlement and having the loyalty payments reinstated but management has refused to budge an inch and enter into meaningful talks," says David Brine, NUJ representative at the Southern Daily Echo and deputy news editor at the paper, in a statement.
Staff at fellow Newsquest title the Brighton Argus are planning to strike this week in response to the publisher's plans to move the newspaper's sub-editing operations to Southampton. The NUJ has claimed that the relocation will result in the loss of seven jobs at the title.
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