The
Rules on Moonlighting
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| The National
Executive Council has approved a set of detailed guidelines
on what work done outside a staff journalists regular
employment constitutes a breach of Rule 29(10): |
| "A
member in staff employment shall first serve the
organisation which employs him/her. In his/her
own time, a member is free to engage in journalistic
work, provided that in doing so, he/she is neither
depriving a freelance or unemployed member of
work nor occupying a job which would normally
be a full-time staff position; and provided that
he/she has contacted the chapel and established
that he/she is not taking work which can be done
by a freelance or unemployed member." |
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Full-time
staff journalist who deprive freelance and unemployed
members of work by carrying out freelance work, including
casual shifts, in their spare time, are in breach
of Rule 29 (10). Freelancing by staff journalists
is permissible providing they are not taking work
away from NUJ freelances and unemployed members.
The
following guidelines have been drawn up to help members
comply with the rules.
If the
campaign against moonlighting is to be successful,
co-operation from commissioning editors, staff journalists,
chapels and freelances themselves is needed.
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1.
Commissioning editors
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Members
in a position to commission freelance work must
first approach able and available NUJ freelances
for all freelance work before considering salaried
journalists. Full-time staff journalists must
nor be hired for casual shifts unless they are
taking part in a recognised trial period for
a permanent job. The only exceptions are:
|
| (a) |
Where
articles are commissioned on the sole grounds
of the journalist's identity. |
| (b) |
Specialist
work where the commissioning editor can show there
is no available freelance with the expertise required. |
| (c) |
Initial
stories or pictures from provincial newspaper
staff or journalists working on magazines in cases
where no freelance has offered them. Follow-up
inquiries must then be commissioned from freelances
when available. |
| (d) |
Where
a recruitment trial period is approved by the
chapel concerned, journalists may be hired for
no more than an agreed number of shifts. These
journalists must be over and above the existing
staff levels. |
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2.
Staff journalists
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Members
who are full-time staff journalists shall not
take work outside their salaried job for their
own or any other employer. The only exceptions
are:
|
| (a) |
If
a journalist is commissioned solely on the grounds
of his or her identity. |
| (b) |
If
a journalist has an exclusive story or picture
which he or she can show no freelance is in a
position to offer. |
| (c) |
If
a staff journalist is commissioned for specialist
work where he or she has established there is
no NUJ freelance with the expertise available. |
| (d) |
Where
a staff journalist is required to fulfil a recruitment
or trial period. He or she must first ensure that
the system is approved by the relevant chapel
and the work is for no more than the agreed number
of shifts. |
| (e) |
Where
it is the practise for staff journalists to carry
out occasional extra work on their own publications
that attracts extra payment. |
| (f) |
Where
the newsdesk has a linage pool that is beyond
individual members' control. Staff journalists
must not undertake follow-up work for other publications
related to stories from these linage pools. |
| (g) |
The
NUJ Freelance Office will provide no assistance
or support in relation to the freelancing activities
of full-time staff journalists who ignore this
code of practice. |
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3.
Chapels
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Chapels
must make every effort to prevent moonlighting
both in their workplace and by their members ensuring
that members who are in a position to commission
work and staff journalists abide by sections one
and two above. |
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Chapels
must instruct members not to handle copy and pictures
submitted by journalists in full-time employment
elsewhere unless the chapel is satisfied by the
commissioning editor that one or more of the exceptions
in section one has been met. |
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Chapels
must instruct members not to accept in-house freelance
work or to seek work elsewhere, including shifts,
regular columns or advertising features, unless
they satisfy one or more of the exceptions in
section two. |
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Chapels
must seek agreements with their managements over
the use of recruitment trial periods. Where journalists
with full-time employment elsewhere are required
to work shifts as part of the selection process
for being taken on permanently, chapels must monitor
the system and ensure that no one journalist works
more than an agreed number of shifts. |
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Chapels
must co-operate with other chapels seeking information
or other assistance in their efforts to stamp
out moonlighting. |
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4.
Freelances
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Freelances,
too, have obligations if the campaign against
moonlighting is to succeed.
|
| (a) |
They
must not plagiarise the work of staff journalists;
any work submitted must be their own. |
| (b) |
Freelances
must not themselves unreasonably deprive other
freelances of work. |
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