Guardian and Observer journalists to strike over sale of the Observer

The union motion said that the Scott Trust ‘should protect a vital element of the UK and international liberal media and not seek to throw it overboard’. Photograph: Mar Fernandez Navarro/Alamy

Journalists at the Guardian and Observer have voted to strike for 48 hours over the planned sale of the Observer newspaper to Tortoise.

Union members passed a motion on Wednesday stating that selling the Sunday newspaper to Tortoise would be a “betrayal” of the Scott Trust’s commitment to the Observer. The trust is the ultimate owner of Guardian Media Group.