Guardian Media Group freezes pay

Posted by Erina Lin on February 17, 2009 at 3:26 AM

Guardian Media Group (GMG) on Friday announced a salary freeze for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which will impact staff across its wholly-owned businesses, including the Guardian and Observer newspapers, guardian.co.uk and MediaGuardian.co.uk, the Manchester Evening News local newspapers and GMG Radio, which operates the Smooth Radio and Real Radio networks, Media Guardian reported.

The company blamed the freeze on "the impact on revenues of the economic downturn." It anticipated "worsening conditions in the coming year."

Bonus payments to commercial staff will be scrapped. However, bonuses, based on "achievement of personal objectives" will be kept, according to Media Guardian.

In the 2007-2008 financial year, all commercial employees received a bonus based on the publisher's performance. Commission received by sales staff will not be impacted.

The GMG remuneration committee has also suspended financial performance and personal objective bonuses for this fiscal year, unless specially approved. This announcement does not affect Trader Media Group or Emap, partially-owned by GMG, Media Guardian reported.

In 2007, GNM staff voted for a two-year pay rise of 4.8 percent, which ends on 31 March this year.