Guardian Journalists Vote For Possible Strike Action

Journalists at the Guardian and the Obsever have voted overwhelmingly for a possible strike.

The British papers, which are jointly owned by the Guardian News and Media group, have been looking to cut staff as a way to save £7 million (or just over $11 million). Neither paper is profitable. Together with journalists at the website guardian.co.uk, which publishes the work of both papers, there are 642 journalists at GNM, the Guardian said. GNM is trying to let go of 100 of them; so far, the paper wrote, around 60 have either voluntarily left or are preparing to do so.

The National Union of Journalists, which represents journalists across Britain, said that the vote was 81.6 percent in favor of a potential strike. This does not mean that a strike will take place, but it gives reporters the power to do so if ongoing talks with GNM break down.

Barry Fitzpatrick, deputy general secretary at the NUJ, said in a statement that "the management has taken a serious risk of jeopardizing the culture within the Guardian by trying to force through compulsory redundancies."