Minister, you really should get out more
He may have been a terrible old rightwinger, but the late Sir John Junor, editor of the Sunday Express when it was a force to be reckoned with, had a way with words. Five of them must have sprung to the minds of older readers who saw reports of the recent speech to the Fabian Society by Business Secretary John Hutton. They are, of course, “Pass the sick bag, Alice”.
John Hutton’s message to trade unionists seeking new laws to make it easier to tackle rapacious employers can be boiled down to: “Belt up, you’re lucky to be working.”
Or, in his words: “Having a multiplicity of employment rights won’t amount to a great deal if you can’t get a job in the first place.”
That’s a far cry from what John McDonnell MP, secretary of the NUJ’s parliamentary group, told delegates to the union’s annual conference in Belfast: “The lack of trade union rights in Britain allows companies to cut wages and pensions while trade unions’ arms are tied behind their backs.”
But John Hutton suggests that, after 11 years of New Labour, government should now bow gracefully out of the industrial relations arena: “I think we should place increasing emphasis on government creating the opportunity for workers and businesses to work out what is best for their own circumstances.”
Tell that to the 140 journalists who face the axe after the merger of Reuters and Thomson or the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment that was “shocked by the open defiance of employment law by some employers”.
No doubt John Hutton wants the best for everyone in the best of all possible worlds. But he should get out more. Expecting Rupert Murdoch or Sly Bailey to sit down with us and discuss “what is best” for both of us is as sensible as telling the three little pigs that if only they would get together with the big bad wolf, then they could sort things out.
Reform? Who needs it?
The NUJ’s victory in securing a total settlement of up to £750,000 for Racing Post staff who were not consulted on the sale of their company — despite their being “represented” by the British Association of Journalists — is testament to the union’s determination and effectiveness.
But the victory has also thrown light on why John Hutton’s reluctance to spend any more time reviewing employment legislation is so wrong-headed.
The BAJ was able to “represent” Racing Post staff despite the fact that most of them were NUJ members and few, if any, were BAJ members because of laws drafted to make it hard for unions to represent their members.
So, you see, there’s absolutely no need for any more reforms of employment legislation.
Pass the sick bag, Alice.
Recruitment: could we do it?
Why do young people who want a job in the media ignore grizzled old hacks when they warn them that they face a life of penury, moral turpitude and RSI?
Perhaps they reason that it can’t be that bad if the old hacks are still hacking it. Or maybe they think we exaggerate.
But what could induce the victim of a recent media monstering to bid to join our ranks? It can’t be the money because Princes Beatrice — described by the Daily Mail as a pampered Miss Piggy — is said to be joining the small army of “work experience” students. In this case at the FT.
Maybe the Royals are testing the water before Prince William himself does a stint behind the keyboard/videocamera/mixing desk, as it has been rumoured he will.
What an opportunity for an NUJ recruiter to make a name for themselves.
Recruitment: a blast from the past
Lawrence Shaw’s Point of View (page 7) provoked both a powerful attack of déjà vu and a jolting recognition of how much has changed in journalism.
In the days before the internet many magazines published from London were typically staffed by two or three journalists who were NUJ members and a secretary, sometimes called an editorial assistant, who was not a member of any union.
Many of the assistants did journalistic work and progressed naturally to become journalists, but the NUJ had no right to organise or represent them while they remained assistants. Not because management refused, but because another trade union, under TUC rules, was the “right” one to organise them.
Only it made no determined attempt to do so; perhaps because most of the assistants were young women.
When an NUJ delegation, keen to increase union membership, visited the union in London, it got a clear message. If any of the assistants wanted to approach the union, it might think about letting them join. In the meantime, the NUJ should mind its own business.
That union has long since disappeared, being absorbed several times into successively larger general unions.
Must be a lesson there somewhere.