New viewing figures published in Press Gazette today show the Reach PLC hacks’ strike, held for 24 hours on 31st August, made almost no difference to visitor traffic across the 14 affected sites. According to data provided by Similarweb, traffic stayed at around 17.3 million on the day of the strike, compared to 16.6 million the previous week, and 17 million the week before that. Although admittedly most of the Mirror hacks stayed put; their union, the British Association of Journalists, accepted the pay deal…
Reach offered staff a pay rise of either 3% or £750 minimum, which the National Union of Journalists said wasn’t enough after last year’s 1% increase. The sites analysed in Similarweb’s data were: mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, dailystar.co.uk, liverpoolecho.co.uk, dailyrecord.co.uk, manchestereveningnews.co.uk, birminghammail.co.uk , walesonline.co.uk, chroniclelive.co.uk, mylondon.news, nottinghampost.com, examinerlive.co.uk, lancs.live and bristolpost.co.uk. In total, 1,150 hacks left their desks… only to see traffic at the Liverpool Echo, Birmingham Live and the Daily Record actually rise compared to previous weeks.
A second three-day strike had been scheduled for 14th-16th September, although that was suspended last night as the NUJ ballots its members on a new pay deal. The ballot ends on 23rd September. Given the last strike didn’t exactly deal a hammer blow, maybe members would be wise to take what they’re offered…
