ITV Production staff vote to strike

So let me get this straight...if they go on strike at LWT does that mean all programming - live or recorded - will stop?

BECTU members at ... the company's Southern Transmission Centre in London will also take part in a two-hour stoppage from 12 noon to 2 pm on Friday 8 April.

well it seems like LNN are just doing the 2hr strike

Strike Could Disrupt Corrie St Filming

Will the planned strike affect Ken and Deirdre's big wedding on Coronation Street on April 8?

The filming of Coronation Street, Emmerdale and other popular programmes could be disrupted when hundreds of ITV broadcasting workers stage a 36-hour strike over pay.

The walkout, from 7am on April 8 to 7pm the next day, will involve more than 700 staff at London Weekend Television, Yorkshire and Granada who have voted to take industrial action in protest at a rejected 3.3 percent pay offer.

Broadcasting workers' union Bectu and Amicus said the stoppage will also hit live programmes such as Ant And Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

The unions complained that the pay offer "barely touched'' the rate of inflation after a year of job cuts and a strong financial performance by ITV.

Gerry Morrissey, assistant general secretary of Bectu, said: "It is unacceptable that ITV executives award themselves huge share bonuses but will not give their workers a decent pay rise.''

Bectu official Sharon Elliot said: "ITV is traditionally regarded as a high payer. The fact is that high pay only applies to the few in ITV. Constant cost-cutting coupled with an enduring long hours culture, particularly in programme production, makes ITV below average when it comes to rewarding its staff.

"Some staff in ITV are paid as little as £11,000 a year. In a year when the company has exceeded its cost-cutting targets by 20 percent and cut more than 1,500 jobs, ITV staff deserve a substantial increase.''

Mike Smallwood, national officer of Amicus, said: "Our members have had enough of the company's penny-pinching when it comes to staff pay rises. Staff living standards are being eroded year on year and they deserve a far better deal given their contribution to the company's continuing success.

"Staff have been told that the company needs to keep pay in line with inflation yet ITV's senior management and directors are being awarded excessive amounts. We want a substantial increase for our members.''

Bectu members at ITV Central and Anglia, covering Nottingham, Birmingham and Norwich, will strike for two hours from 12 noon on April 8 as part of the action.

Pope's on Wednesday.

the funeral is expected to be held between Wednesday and Friday.