STV journalists to strike, affecting Scottish elections coverage

Journalists and technical staff at STV have called a one-day strike on Friday 8 May in the latest stage of the long-running dispute at the Glasgow-based broadcaster.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Bectu, which represents technical staff, are set to walk out over management’s refusal to put forward any pay award for 2026 or to agree principles of any compensatory pay award for 2027. The 0% pay offer follows STV launching a new radio station at the cost of £500,000 in 2025.

In a letter to unions, STV said: “A temporary salary freeze for this year is [...] our only option at this stage as we prioritise returning business to profitability.” 

The one-day strike is timed to affect coverage of the vote count for the Scottish elections. Unlike in previous years there is no overnight counting on the day of the election, meaning results will only be known on the Friday. 

STV is facing a financial crisis following a July 2025 profits warning which led to a collapse in the share price and a halving of the value of the company. It then put forward plans to make significant cuts across the business, including redundancies in news. It also applied to the regulator Ofcom for permission to reduce its public service broadcasting obligations and to drop regionalised versions of the flagship News at 6 across its two channel 3 licence areas.

While Ofcom was initially thought to be supportive of the planned cuts in their initial form, following widespread public opposition STV was forced by the regulator to produce a watered-down version of the plans which made additional regionalised coverage commitments. Those revised plans are provisionally approved by Ofcom, although a public consultation held between November 2025 and February 2026 is understood to have resulted in a large number of responses which are overwhelmingly against the plans. The proposals are opposed by the recognised unions, the Scottish Government, business leaders, leaders of all main political parties, and 83% of viewers in the STV North area. STV staff also went on strike over the planned cuts to jobs and local programming in January.

Ofcom has said it will now not publish a decision on the proposals until after the Scottish elections in May, and it is not clear whether it will approve the plans. However STV has already carried out staff cuts in the newsroom in anticipation of the plans being approved. This means the newsroom is still producing separate news bulletins for the STV North and STV Central areas, with separate sub-region opts, with much lower staffing levels than normal. 

STV’s annual report, published yesterday, shows revenue fell from £188.0m in 2024 to £176.9m in 2025, a fall of £11.1m, but profits fell by £16.3m to a £5.9m loss last year. 

In the report Rufus Radcliffe, STV chief executive, praised staff at STV News whose newsroom has felt the brunt of the cuts. He said: “We are proud that STV News at Six remains the most-watched news programme in Scotland, and the team has delivered significant growth in video views across our digital news platforms.” 

Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ Scotland organiser, said:

“It’s regrettable and frustrating that after extensive talks, management are refusing to put forward any kind of fair compensation offer to the overworked and underpaid staff in the newsroom. It is one thing to write warm words in the annual report recognising that the success of the newsroom is built on the backs of its staff, but CEO Rufus Radcliffe needs to back that up with real actions.” 

In March, NUJ members voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in one of the first strike ballots held under the new Employment Rights Act.

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