ITV programmes hit as workers stage pay strike

Good Morning Britain was one of the first programmes affected, with journalist Martin Lewis announcing that he would not be presenting his regular Deals of the Week section.

Presenter Susanna Reid did not appear on the show although an ITV spokesman said this was because she had a pre-planned day off.

He said: “All of the presenting team who were due to present are on air. Susanna isn’t there because she had a day’s holiday which was planned as part of the post-election coverage.”

Mr Lewis, of moneysavingexpert.com, tweeted: “Sadly I won’t be doing deals of the week on Good Morn Brit tomorrow due to ITV strike. As NUJ member I prefer not to cross picket lines.”

The filming of soap operas could also be hit by the strike.

Members of the technicians’ union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) voted in favour of industrial action by 67% and 77% in protest at a 2% pay award.

Unions have been pressing for a bigger wage increase in view of the TV company’s profits. Their action comes as the company reported a strong start to the year, with net advertising revenue rising 12 per cent in the first quarter and its studios business returning to organic growth.

ITV said its key measurement of net advertising revenue ​i​s forecast to ​rise five per​ ​cent in the first half and it expected to outperform the market for the full year.

A protest will be held outside ITV’s annual meeting in London, including a Simon Cowell “lookalike”.

Bectu general secretary Gerry Morrissey told the Press Association that staff were “very unhappy” with the pay offer.

“There is a huge disparity between the pay offered to staff and the bonus package to executives as well as shareholder dividends.

“Our members are helping to make the profits but are not sharing in them. The company’s attitude to reward for its senior executives compared with the way it treats staff has opened up a huge gulf.

“ITV is profitable because of the efforts of its workforce, not in spite of them. ITV staff make programmes and run the business day-to-day and yet they are not being rewarded fairly in basic pay.

“We have to break this destructive pattern where year-on-year senior executives’ warm words patronise staff but it is only senior management who get the financial reward.”

An ITV spokesman said: “We are fully prepared to maintain an open dialogue with union representatives following the ballot result, which saw 226 union members voting to strike out of a UK workforce of 3,000 employees.

“We have contingency plans in place to ensure that our programmes will continue to be broadcast and are confident that viewers will be unaffected by the proposed industrial action.

“We have made an above-inflation one-year pay increase of 2%, effective from January 1, which is on top of the 11.5% 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.

“ITV continues to make good progress but our focus on costs remains incredibly important across the business as we balance the need to continue to invest in growing the business, our people and the programmes that we create and broadcast.”