The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is itself not immune from the current downturn and has announced the need to cut four posts, as part of plans to save the union £500,000 a year.
National broadcasting organiser, Paul McLaughlin, will take voluntary redundancy, and be replaced by Sue Harris, who currently handles the magazines, books and PR sectors.
One admin position in Ireland is to go and the role of research and information organiser.
It might be too much to ask the three major journalist unions, the NUJ, the CIOJ and BAJ, to merge in view of the present recession and thus spare money by sharing the one London office, merging funds – that the Institute has in safe care, and the best union officers and service for members that BAJ has – In Unity is Strength !
This would also preserve the NUJ from the ever-present risk in the face of this recession of going bust and being swallowed up by a bigger union, as is now a prospect according to its official press releases.
As I myself am a stills photographer member of the cinematographic branch of the biggest (non-journalist) Irish trade union SIPTU ( which leases out the eleventh floor of Liberty Hall, our historic HQ in Dublin city centre, to the NUJ as its Irish Office), to fall into the hands of such a big union well-chosen , might not at all be the disaster for journalists that the NUJ portrays, in fact from my own experiences as a member of ” one Big Union ” – SIPTU is by far the largest, the most powerful, and the most successful Irish trade union – from our happy and successful experiences with SIPTU it could be a blessing just waiting to happen for similar fate to befall all British and Irish journalists, present members of the NUJ.
after all, the officers of such big unions are not known to gallivant about the streets with such as the socialist workers party and their ilk .
Rather the officers of such unions are responsible people, skilled negotiators who tend to deliver nothing but the best for their memberships .
Such big unions are now so respectable that they even represent the upper echelons of the Irish Civil Service in dignity and integrity .
I say , therefore, that if the NUJ, the COIJ and the BAJ are incapable of devising a survival plan for journalists between them, let it be the Big Union :-