Verso union wins pay rise for staff after months of talks 

A group of Verso Books staff unionised with the National Union for Journalists (NUJ), has won a pay rise for employees.

In a tweet on 10th November, Verso Books Union UK wrote: “Our pay negotiations have concluded with a deal! We won a raise of 12% for the lowest-paid members and a sliding scale to 6.5% for the highest paid; an average of 10% across the chapel. The new pay will be backdated to 1st Jan 2022 and runs to the end of 2023.”

It continued that negotiations will now move on to working hours, holiday, sick pay, compassionate leave and parental leave. “We’re submitting our proposals to management this week, watch this space,” the union said.

The union was first recognised by Verso Books in July after 17 months of meetings. At the time, the union said staff were in a worse financial situation than they were during 2020, “a year that the company made its biggest profit in its 50-year history” and that salary reviews had been on hold since 2021. 

On the pay rise now won by the union, Kheya Bag, executive director of Verso Books, told The Bookseller: “Verso Books will always strive to ensure fair pay, and we are proud of the agreement reached with the NUJ chapel. In the midst of an international economic crisis, this deal is a safeguard for Verso’s staff and publishing agenda.”

Verso is a left-wing publisher which describes itself as “the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world”, publishing authors such as John Berger, Arundhati Roy and Owen Jones.

The NUJ Verso chapel has also been contacted for comment.