Pearson schools/UniteThis ADM congratulates the chapel at Pearson Schools This ADM congratulates the chapel at Pearson Schools, Oxford, for jumping the necessary hoops to win the right to ballot over NUJ recognition on the strength of the size of its membership and support within the designated bargaining unit.
ADM condemns the behaviour of the Unite officials of the former GPMU CMS branch, who pre-empted this ballot by signing a single-union agreement with Pearson Schools – an act that prompted the majority of its own members at Pearson Schools Oxford to resign in protest.
ADM recognises that, on the one hand, Unite is being used by management as a tool to outlaw NUJ activity and threaten its activists, while on the other the union is so discredited at the Oxford site that there is no prospect of building any effective Unite presence there.
ADM recognises that this betrayal of basic union principles of solidarity threatens any attempts to defend and strengthen unions in print and publishing at this difficult time. It instructs the NEC to:
- publicise the unacceptable and damaging behaviour of Unite officials in this instance
- exert pressure on Unite to pull back from this damaging agreement
- ADM further calls on the TUC to defend the principles of solidarity by which our movement stands or falls, by insisting that Unite repudiate the agreement to pave the way for the joint recognition agreement that members of both unions want and need.
Campaign for quality
ADM congratulates the Oxford books chapels for their work promoting quality in academic, educational and professional publishing. It notes that this issue strikes a strong chord with book and journal workers similar to the resonance Stand Up For Journalism has had among newspaper and broadcasting journalists.
ADM strongly supports any efforts to conduct research to get a clear picture of what is happening to quality and quality control in this field. It notes in particular the initiative launched by the Brookes International Centre for Publishing, which includes a website where editorial workers can submit anecdotal evidence of quality issues they encounter in their daily work.
It instructs the NEC to initiate a sector-wide campaign aimed at encouraging book and journal chapels to raise the issue of quality within their own workplaces, to give the union a profile on this issue, to strengthen chapels trying to defend staffing and training levels and resist further outsourcing, and to encourage staff to submit their own anecdotal evidence to the Brookes website.
ADM recognises that, as a result of increasing concentration of ownership, most book/journal freelances will tend to work for one or more of a handful of multinational employers. It instructs the NEC to address the issue of how to organise these freelances to maximise our ability to have staff and freelances working effectively alongside one another. It further instructs the NEC to decide – in consultation with the London Book Branch and branches such as Oxford and Edinburgh branches with a sizeable book sector membership – how the union should relate to other organisations, in particular the Society of Freelance Editors and Proofreaders, in carrying out this work.
Keep Libel Laws out of Science
ADM deplores the decision of the British Chiropractic Association to pursue a libel suit against Simon Singh over a piece published in the Guardian challenging the evidence behind claims that chiropractic is effective against conditions such as asthma. ADM believes that it is inappropriate to use the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence. It gives its full backing to the Keep Libel Laws out of Science campaign, spearheaded by the charitable trust Sense About Science, and instructs the NEC to circulate information about this campaign and encourage members to show their support by signing the online statement (www.senseaboutscience.org.uk).
Online communication
This ADM welcomes the review of union communications carried out by the Campaigns and Communications Officer, editor of The Journalist, Irish Secretary and Scottish Secretary and the work that has been done to improve union communications through NUJ Active, more regular updating of the website, dedicated newsletters/email alerts and the redesign of The Journalist.
ADM believes steps should continue to be taken to seek to ensure union communications facilitate and encourage members in carrying out their union activity and participating in union activity.
ADM regrets the failure to implement in full the motion from ADM 2008 regarding the integration of The Journalist online.
ADM therefore instructs the NEC to establish, as soon as possible, a new comment section of the NUJ website, under the editorship of the Editor of The Journalist, which will bring together a wide range of comment-based features including an expanded letters section, opinion pieces, columns and opinion-led features, discussion forums and online debates and to enhance the interactivity of the union’s site.
ADM believes such a proposal protects the editorial independence of The Journalist, provides significant additional new means online for members to express their opinion and participate in union activity and avoids costly duplication, competition and potential confusion in respect of the NUJ’s industrial work and policy positions.
Reporting the BNP
ADM applauds the initiative of the Manchester office in organising a training day for regional press members, on reporting on the BNP, allowing members in particular to learn from the substantial experience built up by journalists at the Yorkshire Evening Post and other northern titles.
ADM recognises that the media has a responsibility to expose the racist nature of the BNP and its links to fascism and thuggery, but it also has a responsibility to try to engage not only the converted but also those the BNP sees as its constituency. This means local journalists should endeavour to expose and counter the lies propagated by their mayors, councillors and local parties, in their efforts to blame black people for housing shortages and lack of job opportunities in the area, and to question what BNP policies can offer working people, many of whom have suffered from a decade of a widening income gap and systematic underinvestment in local communities, including social housing and education.
ADM recognises that the NUJ has a collective duty to do everything in its powers to protect its members and their families who face threats because of the way they cover the BNP. It instructs the NEC to work with chapels to ensure that no single journalist on any one title has to bear the brunt of covering the BNP, and that editors take responsibility for the protecting their staff should they face threats arising from their coverage.
Palestine
ADM condemns unreservedly the massacre perpetrated by Israel Defence Force in its three-week aerial bombing and land invasion of Gaza resulting in more than 1300 people killed and 5500 wounded. It notes that, according to Palestinian medical sources, more than 400 of those killed were children, while Israeli sources estimated that three Israelis died as a result of Palestinian missiles. ADM condemns the blockade by the Israeli government on foreign media entering Gaza during their military invasion of the Strip.
ADM recalls that throughout the last 20 years of this painful conflict, the NUJ has always sought to be on the side of the oppressed and dispossessed and reaffirms its policies passed by ADM, giving priority to solidarity with our journalist colleagues in the West Bank and Gaza and their fight for physical survival, professional recognition, welfare and decent social and working conditions.
ADM accordingly condemns the targeting of media and the killing of at least four Palestinian journalists during the three-week operation in Gaza:
According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the four journalists who were killed were; Hamza Shahin, a photographer with Shehab News Agency, died on December 26; Basel Faraj, who worked as a cameraman for the Algerian TV network ENTV, died on January 6; Eyhab Al Wahidi, who worked as a cameraman for the Palestinian Broadcast Corporation in Gaza was killed on January 8 with his wife and mother-in-law and Ala Mortaji, a reporter for a local radio Alwan died on January 9.
ADM welcomes the call issued by the IFJ following its mission to Gaza, for an investigation into violations of Geneva conventions protecting journalists in armed conflicts and disregard for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1738, which in 2006 called on member states to protect journalists in conflict zones. It regrets the UN has so far failed to take any action on this.
ADM reiterates its call on all parties to conflicts in the region, whether Israeli or Palestinian, to respect the safety of journalists and their right to do their job.
ADM therefore reaffirms the NUJ’s responsibility towards the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and its members, and calls on the IFJ to continue its support for these journalists through their union, including help in dealing with the day-to-day problems of journalists and their families.
AW 2009-07-05
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