The world of IT is not known for embracing  a union mentality or culture.  In fact, there are…erm…none.  Presumably because – let’s face it – the pay and conditions are pretty damn good already! Or, maybe due to the fact there is a widely shared opinion that the more they reward employees, the harder they work and the harder they work, the ‘luckier’ they get?  Or they are an oppressed and silenced bunch, forced to drive around in BMWs and holiday in Dubai. Who knows?

Passion

So, hard as it is to believe, this was my first contact with any form of union outpouring during my 44 years on the planet; having been asked to be part of the student team reporting the conference ‘live and kicking’.

And, KICKING it was.  The passion displayed by the members, delegates, speakers, students and execs was all-consuming and hedonistically intoxicating.  I can’t remember seeing anyone in IT speaking so animatedly about ‘disaster recovery software’ or ‘enterprise software systems’ at a conference.

Another thing that struck me was the camaraderie and the willingness of the members to help out us [relatively] journalistic virgins.  People came to our bunker and sought out individuals to give a word of praise, encouragement or constructive feedback as well as being on hand to be commandeered themselves for interviews and/or advice.

Militancy

Although it is tempting to look down on anyone even marginally right of centre as a waste of space, there are some aspects I experience in corporateland that could be welcomed.  Like the ability to take the piss out of ourselves without it turning into an international incident.

Loud and sweary - (C) damianjozwik.com

Uproar occurred when one of the students twittered that an impassioned speech by the wonderful Eamonn McCann was ‘loud’ (it was) and that he was expecting him to say “Feck” and “Gin” next – an obvious reference to the much-missed and fondly remembered Father Ted comedy show.  This was FUNNY and, obviously, a personal opinion!! (see blogged criticism – opens new window)

By adopting an outraged approach to the tweet, which is, by its very nature, off the cuff, are we not trying to censorship free speech; the very thing we spend most of an ADM trying fiercely to protect?  Could we not just loosen up sometimes and remember just how short life is (watching my father die made me realise this) or am I being exceptionally naive? NEC member Niall Hunt blogged on this too – link opens new window.

Friends

All that said, I have definitely made new friends and will relish future debates we will undoubtedly have whilst knowing that we share a mutual respect for each other, regardless of our differing views and divided opinions.

I have also resolved to become a more active member of the NUJ in my college – we need to recruit, recruit, recruit; especially the new, young blood.

My desire for a bit more light-heartedness may be simplistic but forgive me; I have been in IT….although please don’t tell my Mother I was in IT – she thought I played the piano in a French whorehouse.

Motion 149 was carried, instructing the National Executive Committee (NEC) for a change in the law to ensure that if employees are in the midst of a dispute with a company the employer is not allowed to outsource during the dispute.

It is a matter of human rights said Leeds branch, proposing the motion.

Leeds’ motion 150 aims at making all employers aware of the legal requirement in the United Kingdom which allows trade union representatives to get paid time off to carry out their duties. Guidelines from the legal department will be on the website within the next few days. The motion was passed unanimously.

Supporting Our Members

Manchester proposed motion 151 which instructs the NEC to give full backing to members who have been discriminated against because of their membership.

This motion is present because the branch believes that these members have not always been supported fully – but stress they are not calling for more financial help. It is merely about the way members are treated and welcomed by the NEC.

Jeremy Dear of NEC withdrew an NEC amendment to the motion saying that the NEC now better understood the intentions lying behind the motion.

He concluded: “It’s not about whether or not we support them it’s always about how we best support them.” The motion was carried.

Using Historical Media Campaigns As Examples

Using the 25^th anniversary of the miners’ strike as a platform for motion 152, ADM instructed the NEC to aid the campaign to defend standards in local and regional media. Those in favour told ADM it was appalling to no longer have national coverage of the daily working life of British people. The motion was passed.

Late Motions

Late motion 2 was proposed by Edinburgh and District branch and calls for support to the campaign in Scotland to fight against the poor handling of the Chamber’s Harrap closure in Edinburgh by the Hachette group.

It urges the NEC to do everything it can to to see if at least some part of the redundancies and Chamber’s name and brand as well as skills can be maintained for Scottish publishing. The motion was carried with no objections.

]]> http://www.nujadm.org.uk/trade-union-rights/feed/ 0 http://www.nujadm.org.uk/nec-to-rethink-training-funding/ http://www.nujadm.org.uk/nec-to-rethink-training-funding/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:32:32 +0000 Lizzie Houghton http://www.nujadm.org.uk/?p=719 Withdrawn motion gets point across

Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said yesterday that the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) would rethink the Training department’s funding in light of new proposals.

A motion brought forward to the union’s Annual Delegate Conference (ADM), suggested that the NEC should look into the profit-making possibilities of the training courses.

Although the motion had to be withdrawn due to an inaccuracy, Dear said the NEC would have backed it had it gone ahead.

He said: “Had the motion been in order we [the NEC] would have supported it. We would have investigated whether or not this was a possibility.

“NUJ training has a good reputation. It’s successful, and if we can make it more successful and available to more people then we’ll certainly look at it.”

Motion

Dear added: “Costs are a massive issue for us. Therefore we have to look at all the costs. But if this is something that could not be a cost but a benefit then we would not only keep it, we would expand it.”

The union was looking to cut one member of staff from the department as a cost saving measure.

Motion 132 instructed that the NEC should instead “investigate NUJ training operating as a profit centre, marketing its commercial course more aggressively and using its profits to continue providing cheap courses for members”.

The motion was withdrawn by the London Magazine branch over a mix-up about how the department’s salaries are funded. However, the principles of the motion will be taken on board.

Training

Last year the Training department ran 87 courses. 60 were in professional journalist training. The department also organises training for commercial companies and trade union training.

The Training department was also responsible for organising the students who have been reporting on ADM.

At the moment the union’s commercial training programmes are only advertised in The Journalist and on the NUJ website. One option would be to expand this marketing to bring in more commercial clients.

Over the last year commercial clients have included the Magazine company Informa, the Open University, Lexus Nexus and the Cabinet Office.

Linda King, the union’s Education and Training Officer, said: “We are getting more and more demand [for our courses] as members are losing jobs. In the current economic climate a way of retaining that membership is through retraining the individuals who have lost their jobs.”

We will watch the NEC’s progress with interest.

Links (open in new window)

NUJ Training

London Magazine Branch

The motion did not make an Israeli boycott NUJ policy, calling only for the union to call for an end to arms sales to Israel and for the union to go on a fact-fing trade union delegation to Palestine and Israel.

The NEC opposed the motion and delegates tried to remove the paragraph but Pat Healy of Standing Orders Committee said the motion had to be taken as a whole. Delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour.

The concern was that delegates were unaware that the motion would include this paragraph as it had not been printed in the Agenda.

Stephen is also member of the TUC disability campaign and works closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, specifically dealing with learning disabilities and the mentally unwell in relation to prosecution and witnessing.

Like me, Stephen deplores the world vulnerable as a term to describe myself or people like me. He too is a manic depressive. I find the term derogatory, demeaning and patronising – a sentiment echoed by Stephen and the disability council members.

“It is a nightmare which is still ongoing and that the union needs to grasp… real equality is accepting that we all have difficulties and differences.”

Problems with reasonable adjustment

As far as the council is concerned, allowing reasonable adjustment, for any employee with any disability, can lead to victimisation, bullying and harassment of the worst kind.

This must be stamped out. Reasonable adjustments are allowed because they are needed. The added stress of any subsequent harassment or inferior treatment by colleagues, only adds to the frustration felt by me and I am sure many others.

The NUJ has the lowest disability declaration rate of any union. However, it is well documented that journalists suffer more than many other professions from stress-related illnesses. Is it a reflection of attitudes in the industry? I personally believe so and I am personally looking forward to getting involved with the DMC.

A challenge

So then, here is a challenge from Stephen himself. For all you NUJ members out there keeping mental illness a secret: whether a student, employed or freelance: “Stick your heads above the parapets and get involved.”

The Law of the Land

With regards to journalists’ relationship with the police, motions 86 through to 92 were discussed. In 86 (covering also 87, 88, 89) the efforts, and subsequent legal victory of Sunday Tribune Northern editor Suzanne Breen were applauded and used as an example of why it is imperative for the NEC to “contact police forces in the UK and Ireland to emphasise to them the importance of the NUJ Code Of Conduct”.

With 90, the NEC was urged to continue its ongoing attempts to improve relations with the Police, while 91 focused on how relations were severely damaged by the heavy-handed treatment of journalists (especially photographers) by the police at the G20 demonstrations in London.

Motion 92 on the other hand, dealt with the flippant attitude in which the Police have adopted with the Police And Criminal Evidence Act (PACE Act) and other legislation, thanks to the recent glut of anti-terrorism laws. It proposes that the NEC produce a ‘legal guide’ in which NUJ members can refer to , so as that they know exactly how protected they and their work are, should they ever come under the scrutiny of a police investigation or arrest.

All four motions were passed without incident.

The Misrepresentation of Women in the Media

Another successfully carried motion was that of Bristol Branch, in which, based on the findings of the “Representations of Women in the Media” project, the NEC were urged to promote positive representations of women in the media, and to tackle and debunk the misrepresentations.

Disability and Permission to report

The reporting of stories involving people with disabilities was the focus of both motion 108 and 110. Motion 108 wanted every member to recognise that people with disabilities were a growing population, not only in the general population, but in the NUJ as well.

As a result, it wanted to raise awareness of the importance of sensitivity when writing, and courtesy when dealing with affected members at work. 110 was more interested in the terminology used when reporting on ‘hate crimes against disabled people’, and how words such as ‘vulnerable’ could actually be detrimental to the victims as it creates a weak stereotype that many people could and do find offensive and demeaning. Both motions were carried.

Motion 109 wanted to amend the NUJ Code of Conduct to include the principle that “journalists should seek the permission of a parent, guardian, or other appropriate adult when interviewing or photographing a child with regard to a story about their welfare”. This motion was also passed.

War on Error

The big debate of this section was Oxford and District Branch’s statement that a majority of the British media was guilty of bias reporting on the latest Gaza conflict, and that the NEC  should set up a forum to discuss the ethical rights and wrongs on the reporting of the conflict.

This received passionate backing on both sides of the debate, with members from BBC World Service defending the coverage, and other NUJ members condemning it. Despite BBC World Service’s protestations, the motion was passed (with the branch’s own amendment).

Remission Possible

Not all motions were as successful as most, with motions:

• 93 (campaign to reform the PCC)
• 111 (reinstatement of former clause 8of the original Code Of Conduct)
• 113 (bridging the gap between the journalistic principles of the NUJ, and the new medias of blogging and twittering)

all remitted for the NEC to make a decision.

Attendees at the Media Workers Against the War fringe meeting heard a discussion of the British military position in Afghanistan.

By Stephen Fothergill and Julija Jegorova.

Speaking at the meeting were photographer Guy Smallman, who recently returned from Afghanistan, Nahella Ashraf, who chairs the Manchester branch of Stop the War, and Sue Glenton, mother of British soldier Joe Glenton.

Sue Glenton

Sue Glenton is the mother of British soldier Joe Glenton, who refused to go back to war in Afghanistan on a matter of principle and ethics.

She said: “When Joe was sent to Afghanistan he believed he would be helping to liberate women, stop the opium trade and bring down the warlords. Instead he found himself in a war of attrition which has led to the death of countless innocent people.”

She added that until he sent his letter to Gordon Brown on 30^th July 2009, he was up on charges of being Awol, which allows sentencing of up to two years in prison.

He is now up on the more serious charge of desertion which carries a maximum life sentence. She said: “We’re supposedly fighting in Afghanistan for democracy, really I think we should be fighting for our democracy over here.”

Guy Smallman

Guy Smallman spoke about his time in Afghanistan during the recent November elections. He expressed his dismay with Afghan democracy by saying: “I couldn’t find a single Afghan person who is happy with politics. They believe that their President was elected earlier in the White House.”

He went on to say that he believes that the war is doing nothing to help the Afghan people. Many people are far worse off than before the war started. He said: “Some people have to sell their children to feed their families.”

Stop the War

Nahella Ashraf, Chair of Manchester Stop the War, began her speech by reminding the audience of the main reasons Britain had gone to war.

She said: “We were told that we were looking for Osama Bin Laden dead or alive and to end Al-Qaeda’s movement.”

Other justifications for the war were to promote democracy and to fight for the rights of women in Afghanistan. She argued that this had not happened and in fact in many cases people were far worse off.

She said: “The support for the Taliban is growing. This doesn’t mean that the Afghan people support them, but rather they support anyone who fights against the people who are killing young men, woman and children.”

Links (open in new windows):

http://www.mancsagainsttanks.org/

www.stopwar.org.uk

The fringe meeting, ‘When good bosses go bad & industrial action against progressive employers’, was organised as part of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Annual Delegates Meeting (ADM), in Southport. It is part of a process to build a forum for journalists faced with issues from their organisations.

The NUJ members attending the meeting requested that they all remain anonymous, due to fears their employers might discover their complaints.

Pressure from bosses

The main topic of the meeting was to address pressures from bosses, which sometimes came in the form of bullying.

One delegate explained a situation faced by many journalists. He said: “We are facing lots of issues incluing even bullying from bosses.

“This adds to the problems we have already as to how we are going to carry on. Loads of freelances have gone out of business and it’s very difficult to know what can be done.”

Conflict between companies and their journalists

Part of the meeting focused on the conflicting interests of news organisations and their journalists, and how speaking out about problems can threaten jobs.

One delegate explained how some news organisations enforce their news values to maximise profit.

The delegate, who had to leave due to conflict over a story, said: “What led to my departure was the organisations’ inability to determine news stories from personal stories.

“The worst thing for me is that I want to do what the organisation wants to achieve, but it conflicts with my professional judgements.”

Another delegate explained how bosses have become more demanding over the past few years. The delegate said: “I’ve got a dream job as a journalist. Generally management are quite hands off.

“But when it goes bad it’s really bad. Without any decisions with workers money is spent on other areas.”

The delegate added: “I’m not saying they’re bad people but the values they have are bosses’ values which are above ours and the trade unions concerns.”

Trusts: a better model?

However one delegate expressed satisfaction with how some of the trust-run media deal with complaints. They said: “There is opportunity with trustees to bring up problems as you must report any grievances to the trustees.

“They often do not employ many people so they can often deal with your complaints once communications have started.”

The group exchanged personal details and agreed to meet again soon to discuss possible action.

An hour later, I emerged – having been regaled and entertained with witty accounts of ADMs gone by and with a whole new bunch of people on my Christmas card list. Not what I expected at all!

The Standing Order Committee is here to ensure that all motions abide by the rules, can be clearly understood and will be debated fairly and only once. That sounds simple enough but, as we all know, the path to articulation and ultimate implementation of a motion can be littered with pitfalls and potholes.

A helping hand for first time delegates

Rory MacLeod describes the SOC as “the oil in the machine that is the ADM”. Without that oil it would seize and become a turgid experience for all concerned.

With years of experience of ADMs and a stint as an Editor in the Falklands (he confirmed that penguins do not, in fact, fall over backwards when RAF jets fly over, but suspects that some ADM delegates might) he is very well placed to provide guidance to the array of people who burst or skulk through their doors looking for answers.

Rory takes pride in helping first time delegates and is extremely encouraging when they wish to deliver a maiden speech, giving them the confidence to seize their three minutes and make the most of the obligatory applause and leeway they will get on that occasion.

He believes in the power of good planning and reminisces about the ADM that coincided with a particularly important Scotland/Ireland football match that was taking place in the pub next to the conference hall.

He left the game to give his (obviously eloquent) speech proposing the motion and, just before the vote, watched all the Irish and Scottish delegates file in, fill the back three rows, vote for the motion and all file back out to the game. Who says men shouldn’t organise outings to breweries?

The motions that never saw the light of day

John Lister listed the reasons why motions may not be put forward. Hard as it is to believe, journalist can sometimes find it difficult to express themselves in a way that can be clearly understood and these proposals are rejected as ‘Void for uncertainty of meaning’ or ‘Vums’ as they are fondly called. This year, a motion almost never saw the light of day due to the inordinately long and complicated spelling of ‘competititititively’.

Other reasons may be as simple as the fact that one of the journalistic ‘Six Ws’ is missing from a late notice motion. Frustrating, but it happens. The Devil is in the detail.

Like Rory, John Lister has many years of experience of being in the SOC. He takes pride in helping put together the large composites that may contain 15/20 separate sections and watching them turn into well-focused debates – such as this year’s ‘Future of the Media’ motion.

John remembers past ADMs with fondness, and some of the hangovers are indelibly printed on his psyche, such as the ‘bottle of brandy’ Eastbourne night followed by the futile quest for packets of Resolve the following morning.

Perhaps his favourite memory though was working on a completely spoof paper proposing that the (potentially hungover) delegates stayed until 8pm on the Sunday night. The motion was moved and vehemently supported by Seamus Dooley. The date was April 1st 2001. Keep your wits about you should a future ADM ever fall in the Spring…

A hive of activity

Pat Healy realises that their role can sometimes be perceived as ‘pedantry in motion’ but she is unfazed by this due to her faith in the process that keeps the ADM in check.

She also has many fond memories and recalls the time that the Bristol branch proposed that multi-millionaire members of the NEC should fund lunch for the Branch Chairs. This was thrown out with the recommendation that it reappeared, but this time including the SOC. A cornucopian feast was subsequently enjoyed by all at the appropriately named ‘Rules’ restaurant in London.

The sweatshop that is the SOC committee room is a hive of activity. The live feed of the ADM pervades and the door may as well be revolving with the amount of comings and goings. It’s no wonder that the pot may occasionally boil over and a well-aimed “F**K off, I’m too BUSY” may be launched at a well-meaning but irritating delegate when the pressure cooker finally explodes.

It’s all in the name of facilitation…