About 120 journalists and broadcast staff at STV are set to strike on Friday, the day of Scotland's election counts, in a dispute over pay. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and technical union Bectu have called the action after the broadcaster imposed a company-wide pay freeze following a 6% drop in revenues to £176.9m last year.
Staff are also angry that STV is cutting personnel and reducing news coverage from northern Scotland, the former Grampian TV region, while investing in a new radio station. The media regulator Ofcom has postponed a decision on merging STV Central and STV North news outputs until after the Holyrood election but is expected to approve it later this month.
Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ Scotland organiser, said: “Every NUJ member in the STV newsroom would much rather be broadcasting from election counts rather than having to fight to be paid a fair wage, but they have been left with no choice when the company has decided to spend that money on a new commercial radio station instead.”
STV chief executive Rufus Radcliffe defended the pay freeze, saying it was necessary to prioritise job security and financial sustainability. He noted the company had also reorganised loans, suspended dividends, and restructured pension payments. An STV spokesperson expressed disappointment that the strike would impact audiences but said the company remained committed to dialogue.
