ITN staff vote to strike

Two strikes are planned by staff at ITN later this month, to protest over pension cuts.

Staff at the company, which provides news for ITV1 and Channel 4, have voted for a 24-hour strike on Tuesday January 16, with more action a week later on January 23.

The action is surrounding proposed changes to ITN's pension scheme, with ITN planning to increase its retirement age from 60 to 65, or cap pension increases at 2.5% or inflation, whichever is lower.

Though just 90 out the total 234 ITN staff that are members of National Union of Journalists and Bectu voted for strike action, all 234 will be involved, meaning just over 25% of ITN’s 795 journalists, cameramen and technicians will walkout at midnight on January 15.

The unions have jointly written to management outlining three counter proposals and if management agrees to discuss these, the strike could be called off.

ITN chief executive Mark Wood expressed his disappointment that a "small group of staff" had voted to strike, but said the majority understood the necessity to make changes to its pension scheme. He added he was confident that ITN's full schedule of regular news would not be affected.