Virtual meetings nearer despite NEC’s caution
THE DAY of the virtual NUJ meeting may be nearer after ADM told the executive to draw up rules to allow them.
Guy Thornton of the Netherlands branch said there were places where members found it hard to meet: not just in Spain or Switzerland, where isolated members were trying to get the union going, but in Cornwall, for instance.
“Physical meetings would still remain the absolute priority,” he added.
Leigh Phillips from the Continental European Council said the aim was to get new branches going that could come and take part in ADM.
The NEC was not convinced, said its speaker Adam Christie. How would meetings be chaired and minuted? What would be the quorum? What technology would they use? How would votes be validated? What rules would they have for debate? And finally the question of security: “We don’t want people just walking in off the internet.”
Adam Christie said the NEC would try to clarify these questions but until it had it was not ready to write a new rule.
Dan Danaher of Irish South West branch agreed: “How will we know that people are actually present, and how will people be involved in the meeting?”
Guy Thornton replied that these questions had already been considered and conference agreed to go ahead.
‘Complex’ ADM to be reviewed
ADM’S decision-making is complex and confusing, said Alex Klaushofer of the Freelance Industrial Council. “There is too much pressure on business at the conference for delegates to take decisions properly.”
Her call for a review of conference procedure was supported by the executive. It will be carried out by a committee already looking at the union’s whole structure.
The executive was also asked to look at the possibility of delegations from “group chapels” — representing members working for different offices owned by the same publishing group — in addition to the union branches that currently make up ADM.
Meetings must be open to all
All NUJ members are entitled to attend any union meeting except in circumstances specified under the rules, ADM decided.
Jenny Vaughan, London Freelance, said democracy behind closed doors was not democracy.
Freelance organiser John Toner explained that the matter had arisen at a meeting of the NEC Emergency Committee last year when a number of officials were asked to leave.
For the NEC, Barry McCall said he had broken a holiday to be at the meeting of the committee and was then asked to leave. “The NEC accepts it made an error and supports this motion,” he added.
Lobby on, but keep an eye on the others
Delegates told the union to devote more resources to lobbying the members of the UK’s devolved assemblies and the European Parliament.
At the same time delegates were urged to keep an eye on other lobbyists in the assemblies who might not be as scrupulous as the NUJ.
Tim Jones, chair of the union’s PR Industrial Council, said lobbying was becoming a vital issue and the union needed a debate on it. “Not all lobbyists are corrupt,” he said, “but transparency has been broken by a lot of our members.”
Hugh Kerr of Edinburgh branch, a former Labour MEP, made a devastating critique of the lobbying industry in Brussels. “You should be asking them where is the money coming from,” he said. “A lot of activity is funded by big corporations and consultancies and a lot of MEPs go off to work for them.”
Compromise ends pensions body row
The union is to set up a pensioners’ group open to all members over 60 to recommend policies on pension matters.
ADM’s decision ended a three-year tussle between the union’s Pensioners’ Committee — elected to represent the NUJ at the UK National Pensioners’ Convention — and the Pension Advisory Group (PAG) set up by the NEC last year to work on pensions policy.
The NEC had wanted to disband the committee and put just a couple of pensioner representatives on the PAG, which had them up in arms. Bob Norris of Portsmouth Branch — a former NUJ full-time official — told ADM: “This is a tawdry tale. The NEC did not consult the Pensioners’ Committee nor respond to proposals we made to work together.”
John Ley, Belfast, pointed out that the NUJ already had a retired members’ group in the Irish Republic.
The NEC had agreed to the establishment of the new organisation as a compromise. Barry McCall for the NEC apologised for its handling of the issue.
THE UNION will support the demand for an urgent increase in the UK state pension to at least £134 a week, ADM agreed.
Campaign to recruit PRs
Tim Jones, Public Relations and Information Industrial Council (PRIIC), won support for a dedicated campaign to recruit PR and press officers to the union.
He acknowledged they were sometimes seen as a source of free editorial that was used by publishers without -editorial scrutiny.
But NUJ PRs were bound both by the union’s code of conduct and by guidance on working practices from the PRIIC.