THE DAILY MAIL group wants to charge freelance journalists to work for its titles, but they are resisting, ADM heard. Simon Chapman, Bristol, said freelances would have to pay a fee to register to be able to supply work. “Freelances have to pay £175 for the first year and £120 a year thereafter, and if you don’t sign up you don’t get work. “We should be paid properly and not have to pay to work. The NUJ must oppose this.”
JOURNALISTS’ unions around the world should set up a mutual debt-collecting operation to help freelances get paid by recalcitrant publishers overseas, suggested Mike Holderness of the Freelance Industrial Council. “This should have happened a long time ago,” he said. The union’s freelance organiser John Toner said the union had secured agreements to pay from publishers overseas but did not have the resources to pursue the debt if they refused.
“WE FREELANCE journalists are clever, enterprising and skilled, and every publishing organisation depends on us,” said Christina Zaba of Bristol to applause, “but look at the way they treat us!” Northcliffe Newspapers titles were paying £75 for 1,000 words and £23.85 for a photo. The Trinity Mirror North Wales weeklies pay £10 for a picture; one photographer recently had a rise from £7 to £9 a photo. “What is the solution? Chapels must support their freelances to make sure the union’s recommended rates are being paid — at the minimum.”