Election for NUJ general secretary

I have over 17 years of professional experience in trade union organisation and negotiations across the NUJ, working within all the major UK employers across broadcasting, local and national newspapers, new agencies and digital outlets.

 

I have led negotiations and been involved in all stages of collective disputes procedure, including many ACAS-brokered negotiations, disputes and resolutions. I have led and supported recruitment initiatives and organising drives – including at sites where we have had no or limited presence, and within recognised workplaces where our collective density needed improvement.

 

My experience includes: 

 

Recognition 

As a union dealing with a spectrum of employers, I have significant experience of working in hostile environments in circumstances where management have done all they can to stymie our members’ attempts to gain a collective voice at work. This experience is vital when mounting a campaign where many employers rely on the limitations within the current UK legal framework to drag processes out, hoping to diminish momentum and enthusiasm or rely on churn in staff numbers (often against backdrops of cuts and restructures) to weaken NUJ members’ resolve in their recognition attempts. I’ve learned that building a strong, connected and resilient team is vital. 

 

Take the example of PA. Over decades the NUJ has prioritised PA as a recognition target. Our latest attempt was a 4-year process from start to the amazing outcome of achieving recognition earlier this summer. Our fantastic reps were supported by our excellent legal department and a wider team across the NUJ’s staff, all determined to give our members’ the best fighting chance possible. It was a highlight in my time at the NUJ to see that team-work end with a well-deserved victory – with our reps at PA now engaged in their first ever collective pay negotiation, with ambitions for achieving improvements in future to wider terms and conditions. 

 

Their hard work has already inspired other members in other workplaces – something we need to capitalise on in the coming months, particularly given the imminent legislative changes in the UK which will eradicate at least some of the repressive anti-trade union laws that act as a barrier to our work.

 

I have worked with members to help secure recognition at numerous other workplaces – including the groundbreaking agreement at Vice UK, AP, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and for Local Democracy Reporters at National World. I am currently working with other members who have been inspired by recent successes to begin their own organising and recognition projects. 

 

Collective negotiations

I have been active in workplace negotiations at both a collective and individual level. I have worked to highlight specific issues within workplaces that chapels wish to campaign on including low pay, pay disparities, workload pressures and health and safety; using surveys and other tools to gather evidence. I was involved in two high profile pension disputes at the FT and at the BBC where we won improvements to new defined contribution schemes for members and mitigated the impacts from closure of final salary schemes. I have attended multiple ACAS resolution sessions and have lots of experience of the ACAS process working with collective conciliators. Collectively I have negotiated on pay, redundancies, and terms and conditions and worked with freelance colleagues to raise the issue of poor rates within recognised workplaces. I have supported members through large scale BBC cuts in the past and been determined to extend job opportunities for those individually impacted - work that is very live at present. In collective redundancy processes I have worked to secure more time for consultation, better redundancy terms and to maximise the chances of redeployment. When our members have faced massive insecurity as a result of their employer going into administration - for example at Johnston Press (now National World) the union has been there to support them. I also have experience of TUPE processes and ensuring employers discharge their legal duties, holding them to account when they fail to do so.

 

I have been heavily involved in our work at Reach plc over the past decade - working on improvements to terms during harmonisation processes, the impact of large-scale redundancies on our members, scrutinising a new career development framework and pushing for equality assessment as part of that, and taking part in an AI working group. Achievements won through the landmark industrial action in 2022 have laid a base for much improved industrial relations and paved the way for a positive pay settlement this year. In the latter stages of the pandemic I led on the ACAS process that secured our Reach members re-imbursement of wages cut during 2020 – a win which was subsequently extended to the whole organisation. I have also secured collective payouts for members by identifying failures when employers have not consulted properly in collective redundancy processes. 

 

Future of News

My experience as a national official has given me up-front experience of the impact of short-sighted decisions by companies who are motivated by profit and short-term returns. There are too many employers who care little about standards and quality, sometimes even less about the impact on their staff whose professionalism all too often impels them to go the extra mile – even when resources are inadequate and their dedication is not properly rewarded. The local, regional and national news landscape has suffered greatly since the global credit crunch. Casualisation and precarity of work has increased. Freelance opportunities and rates have diminished and stagnated. Headcount has been slashed and our members face greater pressures on their time and ability to do their jobs properly. The covid pandemic gave the opportunity for cost cutting - with freelances and casuals taking a disproportionate hit - afforded by a crisis. The updated News Recovery Plan is an important practical tool to inform our campaigning on how the industry could be rebooted – something that our members are enthusiastic about and which can help inform our collective organisation and workplace activity alongside the union’s wider lobbying and campaigning. 

 

Hybrid and Remote Working

Working through the period of changed union organising caused by Covid, with the closure of workplaces and the switch to home and hybrid working, we had to quickly adapt our organising and communication techniques. It has propelled our use of digital tools such as WhatsApp, Teams and Zoom meetings. Being able to bring members from disparate geographic places together swiftly has improved our responsiveness and given a new boost to our organising efforts – including crucially in our PA campaign. Industrially it’s also helped widen access, opening up new employment opportunities to journalists, including disabled members and those with caring responsibilities, and helped demonstrate that flexible working can operate effectively. It’s also clear, however, that new patterns of working can have a downside which I have sought to reflect in our organising and industrial work. Members can find themselves working in isolation, in inadequate accommodation and without the right kit – expected to work in bedrooms or cafes, without support and without financial recompense for increased bills. This is particularly so for members in the early part of their careers, for whom remote working can be challenging. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and it is important the union’s work acknowledges that. We need to continue to press on the work we do around home working allowances to mitigate the savings many media companies have made by cutting office space and transferring costs of workers doing their jobs to individuals themselves.

 

Generative AI

As part of the union’s current work on the deployment of generative AI across our industry, I have engaged in collective discussions and meetings in our workplaces. As an evolving technology it’s vital that we remain a key stakeholder in the impact of generative AI on the media industry – working to ensure its impact on workplaces prioritises the vital human role in journalism, protects jobs and doesn’t further weaken trust in journalism.

 

Individual Representation 

The NUJ delivers individual representation to members in a way that is unusual across the trade union movement. Members have simple access to officials and our legal team. Personal representation – delivered by workplace and lay reps and officials – is accessible and prioritised. This approach is intrinsic to the NUJ and something to be nurtured and made sustainable through developing new reps and our trade union training.

 

Representing members, often at a time of considerable stress and difficulty, is a privilege and something that gives me great satisfaction in my work for the union. I have represented hundreds of members, including in disciplinary, grievance, flexible working and redundancy situations and striven to secure the best outcomes with them. I have also supported members through onward legal advice processes on issues ranging from unfair dismissal, sex, disability and race discrimination cases, bullying and harassment and equal pay claims. I have successfully negotiated positive outcomes for multiple members over the years. 

 

Delivering equality in the workplace 

I am proud that the industrial work we do as officials focuses on delivering equality in the workplace. Be that work on equal pay, the gender pay gap or wider pay parity – seeking transparency and fairness is vital. Working with chapels, I’ve challenged flawed approaches to pay and sought changes to processes that act as barriers to progression among under-represented groups. Access to the industry is impacted by this – making it hard if not impossible for those without media contacts or financial support from their families to get a foothold. The union’s practical work on delivering equality, including the brilliant George Viner Memorial Fund bursaries, is so important. As is making these issues key parts of our industrial collective bargaining – not just buzzwords that companies roll out.

 

The law is never as protective of workers’ rights as we would wish – so collective industrial organising is vital. We must also find creative ways to use the law as well as pressing home cases that have a wider industrial significance for our members. Samira Ahmed’s principled stand and landmark legal victory taken by the NUJ was testament to her tenacity. It gave members I was working with in my sectors the confidence to challenge unequal pay in their own workplaces. That investment of time and resources showed our collective commitment to tackling these crucial issues and unlocked successes and settlements for many other members across the union. Delivering equality at work is an ongoing task, requiring experience, work and an ability to work collaboratively with reps in developing our industrial agenda.

 

Maximising collective organisation 

The union’s structures serve a crucial function in their focus on how best to improve the working lives of our members. Group chapels play a vital role in this regard. They are brilliant vehicles for coordinating activity and maximising impact, and I’ve worked closely with all the union’s group chapels, at Reach, the BBC, ITV, National World and Newsquest during my time working as an NUJ official. 

 

I have learned during my time as an official for the NUJ the value of bringing our reps together – whether that’s in group chapel meetings or wider gatherings such as training sessions, webinars on specific industrial issues, via WhatsApp groups, or summits of reps across the sectors which I have co-ordinated with colleagues in my position servicing the Newspapers and Agencies Industrial Council. 

 

As servicing officer for the National World group chapel I have supported our members for many years, including in their unprecedented 2023 strike for fair pay across the group. This fight is ongoing and I salute the incredible work and time that reps and members committed to highlighting unfair and low pay across the group and the wider industry despite the employer’s approach. 

 

Industrial action is never taken lightly, but it can be both energising and inspirational. When young members at Newsquest in South London took strike action over job cuts and working hours, I was with them on their lively picket lines. Their subsequent work to rule reset the working day and secured improved resources at one of the most challenging employers we deal with. I know how important it is to have support from the wider union when you’re on strike, and I have supported members on strike in other disputes – including visits to recent BBC picket lines in Brighton and Tunbridge Wells and encouraging wider solidarity across chapels including in the recent dispute and strikes at Springer Nature.

 

International cooperation 

Maintaining international links in our collective industrial work is also important. Several of the workplaces I support have employers with an international presence. Improving connections between our chapels and overseas workplaces, working with the General Secretary and sister unions and linking up our respective reps and activists, boosts our mutual industrial impact. That’s been particularly important at the Guardian and FT in recent years, with links to sister unions in Australia and the US, as well as in Japan during the FT pensions dispute.

 

Team player 

A collegiate team approach is critical for effective organising and collective industrial work. A win is always collective and a set-back is never on the shoulders of one person. I have always sought to work collegiately with colleagues, reps and members to achieve the best outcomes as a team. My direct experience in group chapels in print, digital and broadcasting has reinforced my belief in the pivotal role of teamwork. The General Secretary of the NUJ is required to take a central role in major negotiations and to work with chapels and officials, as well as providing informed leadership.

 

Wider labour movement 

We are a special and distinctive union, but the NUJ also benefits from its close links with sister unions in the UK and Ireland, and internationally through its close work within the International Federation of Journalists. Our own organising efforts are amplified when we work closely with sister unions, and I have encouraged chapels and reps to build links with trade councils, other unions and branches during workplace disputes and campaigns. 

 

As a trade unionist I know the value of practical and purposeful solidarity. Outside of my NUJ role I have been a trade union liaison delegate to the South-East Kent trades council and supported and attended picket lines, rallies and protests in multiple other disputes including P&O, RMT, CWU postal strikes and the ASLEF dispute. I have supported trades council initiatives and helped connect members with wider trade union movements in their communities to help highlight campaigns and disputes.