Tag Archives: nuj

NUJ Release: Thousands of BBC journalists to strike over compulsory redundancy risk

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“Thousands of journalists at the BBC are to hold two national one-day strikes against compulsory redundancies,” the National Union of Journalists reports.

The focus is on cuts at the World Service’s South Asian section where up to 20 positions are at risk of being cut.

“NUJ members at the corporation voted 77 percent in favour of strike action in a national ballot,” the release said.

A motion was passed declaring that industrial action will take place on Friday 3 April and Thursday 9 April  ‘in the event that further talks fail to resolve the issue’.

Full release at this link…

RBI staff vote against further industrial action

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National Union of Journalist (NUJ) members at Reed Business Information (RBI) have voted against further industrial action following a strike ballot at the publisher.

In the Wednesday ballot, 111 voted against further action being taken in response to proposed merger of production desks at Flight International, ICIS and Contract Journal and issues of compulsory redundancies.

According to an internal memo seen by Journalism.co.uk, the NUJ chapel will meet with the company again on March 4 to discuss new offers to staff, with separate meetings to be held for members at New Scientist and Estates Gazette.

In the ballot, 64 NUJ members voted in favour of taking industrial action.

Last month the group announced 35 staff redundancies in the UK, citing ‘long-term structural needs’ and the new challenges of the economic downturn.

Parent company Reed Elsevier recently extended loan arrangements for its $2 billion debt.

In December Reed terminated the sale of magazine arm RBI, as a result of ‘the recent deterioration in macro-economic outlook and poor credit market conditions’.

NUJ release: NUJ calls on Trinity Mirror to ‘put stop on cost-cutting’ programmes

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The NUJ has issued a release calling on Trinity Mirror ‘to put a stop to its cost-cutting programmes and come up with a strategy that shows respect for local communities and invests in a long-term plan to ensure the success of its papers and websites.’

“The company’s figures show that, despite the downturn, Trinity Mirror still made operating profits of over £145 million – of which £68 million came from local media. The company’s profit margin is almost 17 per cent,” the release said.

Full release at this link…

Comment: The NUJ and new media – ‘bloggers rejoice in lower standards’

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It was with some astonishment that I read the following comment from the chair of the UK’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) professional training committee, Chris Wheal, on Adam Tinworth’s blog:

“The NUJ fails to maintain standards in blogs because bloggers themselves rejoice in having lower standards.”

Tinworth had written about his discovery in his blog’s referrer logs that an email exchange within the NUJ under the subject ‘effing blogs’ had led someone to his website.

Wheal points out some flaws in the original post, as he sees them – in particular an alleged witch hunt surrounding one of the recipients of the email.

Personally I don’t believe a witch hunt was Tinworth’s aim – he was, as Suw Charman points out in the post’s comments, writing about what he observes.

Aside from that it’s hard to engage/respond/take on board what Wheal is saying when the tone gets your back up in the way it does and makes sweeping statements like the above.

He goes on to say that the NUJ is currently looking at Yahoo Pipes and new Webvision CMS – great, talk to your members, many of whom are also bloggers, about it.

But do this in a way that respects the ‘social’ aspect of social media and learn that blogs like Adam Tinworth’s are intended as open conversations.

Wheal says he wants the NUJ training committee to engage with bloggers to raise standards – this is a lesson in how not to do it.

ItsDevelopmental: Why the NUJ should focus on digital training

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The National Union for Journalists (NUJ) needs to focus on upskilling members for digital publishing, writes Martin Couzins.

“This is a period of immense change and those of us who work in the media need to keep abreast of this change. And organisations that represent those that work in the media must keep pushing the training agenda. These are collaborative times, so let’s collaborate.”

(Check out the response)

Full post at this link…

NUJ Release: Guardian must consult NUJ over pay freeze

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Following Friday’s NUJ meeting at the Guardian, which confirmed a pay freeze for 2009, the National Union of Journalists has released a statement reminding managers at the Guardian Media Group that they are obliged to enter negotiations with the union.

“It has been reported that management are not open to consultation on the pay freeze, but under the union’s agreements with the company consultation must take place.

“The company has stated that the economic downturn means it can’t afford to increase salaries this year. It has also announced that most executive bonuses won’t be paid.”

Full release at this link…

NUJ jobs crisis summit round-up – ‘Murdoch and Dacre have brought us into disrepute’

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Saturday saw around 150 gathered for the National Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) job crisis summit, part of a union-wide campaign against job cuts and pay freezes in the industry.

Speaking at the summit, Flat Earth News author and journalist Nick Davies called upon journalists to be ‘whistleblowers on our own newsrooms’:

“We need to tell the public the impact of the job cuts on newsgathering,” he said in a report on the NUJ website.

“The public must know that the corporations have taken over the newsrooms and ransacked them for profit and that is why readers have lost trust in us.

“We need to improve the status of journalists. We are not trusted; we are not liked, because we are misperceived. The best known people in journalism are people like Rupert Murdoch and Paul Dacre, who have brought us into disrepute.”

Exposing flaws in managements’ running of newsrooms and putting state aid into the hands of journalists and not corporations would help provide a practical solution to a financial problem, he added.

The union will launch a campaign of lobbying MPs and local authorities, protests and possible industrial action, legal challenges to staff cuts and workplace issues, and a public debate of the situation.

The meeting called on the NUJ’s general secretary, Jeremy Dear, to meet with employers on a national level, and speak with ministers about media ownership regulation:

“This meeting believes the economic model practised by media employers over recent years – a sub-prime media market – is dead. It is scoops, quality editorial content, strong images and an engaged readership which will see media survive and flourish not retrenchment and soaring executive pay,” a motion ruled by the meeting said.

“This meeting further believes that light touch media regulation and the weakening of media ownership laws has led to an unhealthy consolidation of media ownership.

“Many media owners continue to show they have no coherent strategy that can secure a viable future for media in print, broadcast or online.”

Also discussed: chapels must include freelancers, casuals and contributors in activity and agreements surrounding cutbacks.

The summit also acknowledged the wider global crisis in the industry and pledged to work with both other UK industry unions, such as BECTU and UNITE, and international representatives.