JOURNALISTS at Scottish Television (STV) have once again taken to the picket lines over an ongoing pay dispute.

All news output at the station, including the flagship News At Six was halted as members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) fight for a 6 per cent pay rise from an outgoing £900,000-a-year chief executive Simon Pitts.

Strikers took the opportunity of the one-day action to take their case to the company’s AGM being held at its headquarters in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay on Wednesday.

NUJ national organiser for Scotland, Nick McGowan-Lowe, said: “It is disappointing that once again our journalists are having to head out of the newsrooms and into the shareholder AGM to find out answers to resolve this dispute.

“A tiny fraction of Simon Pitt’s bonus would be enough to resolve this dispute for all 90 of the newsroom’s staff and still leave him paid vastly more than the director-general of the BBC — an organisation that is over 45 times larger than STV.”

An STV spokesperson said they “remain open to further dialogue,” but branded the NUJ’s pay claim “unrealistic and unaffordable.”