Quality campaign: should we put our money where our mouth is?Last September, the branch tapped into a strong mood among editorial staff in educational and academic publishing when it called a meeting in the Town Hall to discuss what is happening to the quality of the work we publish. Last September, the branch tapped into a strong mood among editorial staff in educational and academic publishing when it called a meeting in the Town Hall to discuss what is happening to the quality of the work we publish.
Every major book/journals publisher in the area was represented at the meeting, as well as a strong contingent of freelances. On the strength of the stories they had to tell, Steve Ball of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies agreed to set up a website to gather anecdotes that could shed some light on what is happening in the industry.
Located as we are at the heart of the academic and educational publishing industry, the Oxford NUJ is well positioned to run a campaign in defence of quality. However, in the face of the acute crisis in newspapers and the need to focus on workplace issues such as the recognition campaign at Pearson, the branch has not been able to give the quality campaign the attention it deserves.
Are we missing an important opportunity? Should we be finding the resources to give a lead to members and non-members everywhere who want to do something in defence of quality in their own workplace?
Members will get their chance to have a say on this at the June meeting, where the branch will discuss a proposal to put £300 of branch money, and to ask for matched funding from the London Book branch and the Magaizine and Book Industrial Council, to pay longstanding committee member Bill MacKeith to devote serious time into getting this campaign into as many workplaces as possible.
We’ve never done this before. Should we do it now? Come to the meeting and help us decide. AW 2009-06-02
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