Springer Nature staff under pressure from cost-of-living crisis begin strike over pay | News

In the UK, staff at scientific publisher Springer Nature went on strike today over a pay dispute. The move came after negotiations broke down in April. Union representatives had cited Springer Nature’s high profit margins as evidence that the publisher was able to improve its staff’s pay despite dramatically rising living costs.

Over 200 editors, journalists and production staff across the country Nature The family of magazines is a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and is expected to take part in today’s strike. A further 180 staff affected by the wage negotiations are also entitled to take part in the industrial action.

In April, union negotiators rejected a 5.8% pay rise offered by Springer Nature. The union argues that while this amount is higher than the current UK inflation rate (2%), it is not enough to offset the real wage cuts caused by higher inflation rates in recent years and the associated cost of living crisis. Employees are also unhappy with rising commuting costs resulting from the company doubling the number of days staff must commute to its London office.

“We have colleagues whose mortgages have gone up by £200 a month, whose energy bills have gone up by £130, on top of rising food costs – and now their commuting costs are doubling too,” a NUJ spokesman said after union members voted to take strike action last month. “Springer Nature’s claim that their pay offer is ‘above inflation’ fails to deal with reality. Many of us have seen the real value of our salaries shrink over the past few years.”

Around 500 scientists signed an open letter in support of the striking workforce. It said that if Nature is to fulfill its “primary mission” of serving scientists by publishing and reporting on scientific advances and related topics, “which cannot be done without its own staff.” The letter was signed by six Nobel laureates, including 2021 Chemistry Prize winners David MacMillan and Ben List.

Among the supportive messages accompanying the open letter was one from Eric Jacobsen of Harvard University, who said: “Nature’s editors, journalists and production staff play a critical role in evaluating, advancing and communicating science. They must be fairly compensated for their work.” Ben List added: “Science should not be the subject of greed, but of openness, freedom, enthusiasm and fairness.”

The NUJ points out that Springer Nature reported an operating profit of €487 million (£410 million) in 2022, representing a profit margin of 27% of revenue. It also highlighted a recent increase of 8% Nature’s fees for processing open access articles to €10,290 as evidence of Springer Nature’s healthy financial position and ability to pay higher wages.

“We continue to believe that the above-inflation pay increase offered is fair and available to all members of the NUJ bargaining unit, many of whom have now accepted it. We also recently announced additional measures to cover increased commuting and living costs and to support all UK employees, building on further cost of living payments we made in 2022 and 2023,” said a spokesperson for Springer Nature. Chemistry world“We continue to hope for a speedy resolution of the situation and have made it clear that we would like to come to the negotiating table for further talks.”

NUJ members plan to strike for another seven days over the next six weeks unless an agreement is reached on pay. “Between strike days we will work to rule,” union officials said in a press statement. “This means we will meet the terms of our contract, but nothing more. No niceties. No goodwill.”