Journalists at the Belfast Telegraph, owned by Independent News & Media, are planning a 48-hour work stoppage from this Friday morning.
The paper, which was bought by IN&M in 2000 for €479 million, has offered all journalists a 3 per cent pay rise, but the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has described this as inadequate.
The company also wrote to some individual journalists offering them increases on top of this, but the paper's chapel (union branch) rejected this approach.
About 95 NUJ members are due to take part in the work stoppage which ends at about 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. Among the 95 are a group of Sunday Life journalists. This paper is owned by the Belfast Telegraph.
The NUJ claims salary structures at both papers are out of line with what is paid at the London Independent, Independent on Sunday, Irish and Sunday Independents. The company denies this.
The company and the union have been through a conciliation hearing at the Labour Relations Agency in Belfast. After this hearing, the union claimed if management were prepared to concede in other areas, for example on holidays, an agreement might be possible.
An NUJ spokesman, Mr Des Fagan, said it was suggested that an offer of a week's extra holiday could break the impasse, but the company rejected this as too costly.
The company said it was disappointed that NUJ members at the Belfast Telegraph voted to take part in industrial action after rejecting what it believed was "one of the best offers to any group of journalists in the United Kingdom this year."
"The 3 per cent basic offer, which all NUJ members would have received, is well above the current rate of inflation. In addition, around 30 union members stand to gain salary increases of between 5 and 16 per cent as a result of re-grading proposals. The vast majority of journalists in Belfast also benefit from a generous final salary pension scheme to which the company contributes 15 per cent of annual salary," said a statement. It pointed out that other unions had accepted the latest pay offer.
