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The Future
At a time where the media industry is undergoing an unprecedented upheaval, only we as journalists, together with our union, can confront and attempt to solve the crisis we face.
As deputy general secretary my main job will be to help and support the general secretary in his duties of running the union. I do however have my own vision of what kind of union we should continue to build.
Gaining new members
One of our key campaigns has been to harness the strength and diversity of our branch leaders and activists to organise both traditional news organisations and new media. I will do everything I can to ensure that wherever there are journalists, the NUJ will have a presence – in newspapers, press and PR, books and magazines, broadcasting or websites. I will work hard to build links and alliances between freelancers and their staff colleagues, so that our collective industrial strength works for all NUJ members.
Reaching out to all those journalists in new and traditional media who have yet to be convinced that the NUJ is relevant to them is vital - only then will we have the collective industrial muscle to be a force able to deliver the improvements in conditions our members - staff and freelance - need and deserve.
Building on our successes
The union is not just made up of offices in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin. We are 40,000 journalists, many of whom have been mobilised to win recognition and agreements. Our campaign against low pay has achieved significant gains for journalists, particularly those new to the industry. We need to build on those successes by committing the time and resources it takes to involve more members at the grassroots so our union can become a stronger voice in the workplace and the community.
Future generation
We need to expand our commitment to full participation throughout our union. It is great that our union is member-led but we also need to recruit the best and brightest of the future generation to assume leadership roles in the union and bring fresh perspectives. We also need to do more to encourage women members to assume leadership roles in the union’s democratic structures – there are so many excellent experienced women reps working hard for their members every single day. We need their voice at an executive level so that our leadership properly represents the whole of our membership. As DGS I will be there to listen to what members want us to do.
I’ve worked closely with Jeremy Dear for many years as an MoC, an NEC rep and in particular during the last two years as vice-president and president. We certainly don’t always hold identical views but this has never stood in the way of agreeing what’s best for the members. I will be a supportive deputy - one who speaks her mind, is honest and truly believes in unity of purpose and delivering the best possible service to our members.
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I will be working specifically to:
- Set up an aggressive recruitment strategy that will expand the union in workplaces that are not fully organised and in news organisations that are not yet unionised. Such a strategy should be coordinated by every NUJ office and driven by local branches and chapel activists.
- Motivate members to become the champions of quality journalism and set the best professional standards. Our “Stand Up for Journalism” campaign proved that, in our fight for the future of journalism, we can build coalitions with policy makers and the public at large that will strengthen ties to our members.
- Bring new activists into action so we can renew and strengthen our base and bring fresh perspectives. We must continue to develop imaginative ways to connect with new members.
- Focus our organisation to face the changes in journalism and the wider industry. For this we must train our negotiators for the digital age, launch a more dynamic collective bargaining programme and seek to improve union agreements through membership mobilisation and large-scale campaigns.
- Re-energise our industrial strategy throughout the union and give priority in our agreements to stop job losses and adverse changes in work patterns.
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