FT journalists stop pay talks after Barber’s compensation revealed

Journalists at the Financial Times have called a halt to pay negotiations after it was revealed that the former editor Lionel Barber was paid more than £1.9m last year – including a £500,000 “loss of office” payment, reports Archie Bland of The Guardian.

Bland reports, “Barber, the FT’s highly regarded editor since 2005, was given the pay and pension package despite a dip in profits over the same year, accounts filed at Companies House showed. The package, first reported by Press Gazette, comprised £1.4m in pay, £502,000 in lieu of notice, and a further £10,000 into his pension scheme.

“After the FT’s National Union of Journalists chapel was informed of the figures, it called a meeting of staff to discuss the issue on Thursday and then issued instructions to union representatives to suspend negotiations ‘until clear answers are provided about remuneration for senior staff.’

“The statement noted that Barber’s deal had come to light ‘at the end of a year dominated by pay restraint and job cuts’ and demanded that the company provide ‘full transparency about all senior executive pay and performance targets.'”

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