Desmond braves Express Newspapers picket line (original) (raw)

Express Newspapers proprietor Richard Desmond greeted striking journalists outside his London headquarters in the first 24-hour strike in the national press for 18 years.

Desmond, accompanied by a minder, walked past the protestors and entered the building on foot.

"Good morning," he said, greeting striking journalists. "It's a nice day for it," he joked.

Earlier, Desmond's limousine with tinted windows and personalised number plates swept past striking journalists outside the Lower Thames Street HQ of Northern & Shell, Express Newspapers' parent company, at about 7.45am - slightly later than his usual arrival time.

Richard Desmond: joked with striking journalists. Cate Gillon/Getty Images

Members of the National Union of Journalists on the picket line reported that his driver had contacted security staff ahead of time to raise the car park boom gate and Desmond's chauffeur speeded up as he approached the building.

"His car swept by, wafting all the banners. His chauffeur had obviously been told to put his foot down," said Steve Usher, the NUJ chapel representative for the Daily Star.

"I ran to the ramp to wave my placard but the barrier was already up and he was down it at great speed into the building. That was Mr Desmond's arrival."

Later it transpired that Desmond had been dropped off at his local gym and walked to work.

If the Express proprietor, who has refused to offer his journalists more than a 3% rise, was expecting a Wapping-style confrontation, he did not get one.

A small but enthusiastic group of about 20 NUJ members held placards, some with the slogan "3% is not OK!" - a play on Northern & Shell's successful OK! magazine.

"A few members have turned up and we have got lots and lots more coming during the course of the day. National newspaper journalists are not brilliant at getting up at the crack of dawn," said Michelle Stanistreet, Express Newspapers chapel representative and NUJ president.

"The management have effectively imposed a settlement. They have said effectively take 3% and be happy with the fact that we are not sacking you," she added.

"We want an increase that more than adequately compensates us for the cost of living."

The Express Newspapers strike began at about 6.30am and protesters claimed an early victory when postal workers refused to cross the picket line, depriving Northern & Shell of its mail.

But later in the day, inside the Express Newspapers offices journalists who turned up for work reported most staff in attendance, although the Daily Star newsroom was said to be "mainly empty".

Barry Fitzpatrick, national newspaper organiser for the NUJ, said the strike had started very well both in London and at the Express Newspapers subbing centre at Broughton, near Preston.

"From our point of view it has got off to a very good start and I believe the same applies to Broughton," Fitzpatrick added. "So far it has been a very successful day of action."

The NUJ, which is currently holding its annual delegates meeting in Belfast, does not expect the strike, the first of three planned 24-hour stoppages, to prevent the Daily Express and Daily Star from being published tomorrow.

Numbers on the Lower Thames Street picket line are expected to peak between 10am and 2pm today with more than 60 striking journalists, organisers said.

Today's action is the first 24-hour national newspaper strike since industrial action at the Telegraph in 1990, the NUJ said.

Stanistreet said Express Newspapers, which recently paid £550,000 in damages to the parents of Madeleine McCann and published front-page apologies in each of its four national titles for a string of inaccurate stories about the missing girl, had suffered greatly.

"Compared to every other national newspaper, we have suffered so much more in the last few years. We have faced countless rounds of redundancy and budget cuts in editorial budgets," she added.

"Last year alone we managed to get them to stop plans to make 60 people redundant and outsource entire editorial departments," Stanistreet said.

"Every year, sometimes more than once a year, we have faced another ridiculous attempt to save money on Desmond's behalf and it is simply not acceptable for him to say that the economic situation is dire at the moment when he has banked £40m [from Express Newspapers] in the past year."

"We want a pay rise to reflect the dedication that a tiny team of staff puts in to get these papers out each day. The papers will come out tomorrow. They will be a poorer product than usual, it will be another attempt by Desmond to cheat readers."

Striking journalists did not attempt to prevent people entering the Northern & Shell building, which is used by other companies.

"This is a peaceful demonstration, Wapping was an awfully long time ago. All we want to do is open the management's door for negotiations," Usher said.

"They have firmly shut the door and we have been knocking for five months without reply and we have ended up on the pavement outside the building."

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