ITV to strike next week over ‘insulting’ pay offer after boss takes £8.4m bonus

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, described the “cheap-as-chips pay offer” as an insult to its members

“We know ITV is able to give Adam Crozier, its chief executive, a bonus of £8.4m and it has been on a £1.4bn spending spree on company buy-ups while its staff face hardship because of their paltry pay.

"It is, frankly, an insult to offer two per cent to our members who were prepared make sacrifices when times were tough at ITV. Now, with fortunes on the turn and an increase of six per cent in advertising revenue last year, why is ITV being so mean?

"Our members have made their message clear. Unless ITV can come back with a better offer, they will be taking strike action next week."

The 24-hour strike could affect live programmes including ITV news bulletins and Good Morning Britain.

An ITV spokesman said the corporation was fully prepared to maintain an open dialogue with union representatives.

"We have made an above inflation one year pay increase of two per cent, effective from January 1, which is on top of the 11.5 per cent of pay rises over the last four years, some way ahead of other media sector pay awards. We are also the only UK broadcaster to pay the living wage. Eligible colleagues also received the maximum £1,200 bonus in their pay packets in March and we have increased the 2015 bonus opportunity to its maximum £1,500 which would be paid next year.”

He added that ITV has contingency plans in place to ensure that programmes will be broadcast as usual.

The negotiations have been ongoing since December last year when the NUJ said it was holding out for a minimum offer of 2.75 per cent.