The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender survey carried out by the NUJ has uncovered deeply troubling evidence of workplace discrimination suffered by members.

The response level of 120 members was considered to be exceptional given general statistics and the fact that the survey targeted a specific minority.

52 per cent of respondents felt that they had suffered discrimination at work.

Of those, the greatest evidence of discrimination was on grounds of sexuality, with 82 per cent of respondents citing this as a reason for negative bias affecting their work.

This figure was notably higher than other stated reasons, though 56 per cent of respondents reported suffering age discrimination and 44 per cent were disadvantaged due to disability.

Nearly a third of respondents (32 per cent) revealed that their colleagues did not know of their sexual orientation or gender history.

More than two thirds of members who replied were dissatisfied with action taken by their employer or employer support on discrimination issues.

And 36 per cent of respondents accused management of bullying, harassing or discriminating against them.

The Equality Council is committed to a proactive cross-media campaign against such discrimination and is currently leading the UK trades union field on the issues.

On Friday, Glasgow welcomed the Equality Council, which held a meeting in the city in advance of the seminar on bullying.

The Council elected Carmel McHenry as Chair for the coming session with Diane Parkin elected as Vice-Chair.

The wide-ranging discussion covered the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender survey and ongoing action against bullying. This includes plans to launch a high-profile cross-media campaign using The Journalist, printed materials and the wider media to highlight the message that bullying and harassment are unacceptable in any circumstances.

There was also discussion on the Equal Pay campaign, including recognition that, such are the complexities of the issues, organisers require special training to enable them to undertake Equal Pay Reviews. Work already done in Scotland in this area was recognised by the Council.

Other issues covered included plans to campaign on domestic violence and discussion on the relatively low proportion of female activists within the NUJ. It was hoped that the recent appointment of a number of female Assistant Organisers would lead to stronger representation of women in influential positions with the union.

The NUJ's Equality Council will meet in Glasgow on Friday in advance of Saturday's Bullying Seminar.

Members may attend the Equality Council meeting, which will be held at in the Marriott Hotel at 4 pm, as observers.

Glasgow branch Chair, James Doherty, and Ann Coltart, who is the branch's Equality Officer and Treasurer, are members of the Equality Council.

This year's May Day march and rally will be held on Sunday, 2nd May.

NUJ members should assemble at the north-east corner of George Square at 11 am, in preparation for the march which will begin at 11.30 am.

From George Square, the route of the march will be through Hanover Street, Ingram Street, Glassford Street, Argyle Street, Trongate, Gallowgate, Moir Street, London Road and Greendyke Street before entering Glasgow Green.

On entering the Green, the March will veer right.

The main marquee and tents are situated at the rear of the People's Palace.

"Fabulous", "outstanding", "a revelation", "a fine anthology": all these terms have been used to describe the book, Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq.

Now, the book's Editor and Glasgow branch Vice-Chair, David Miller, is to give readers a chance to discover just why it has caused such a stir, when he hosts discussions in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Published at the beginning of February, Tell Me Lies is already selling out of its second print run and is being translated into Japanese and Arabic.

It has been described as "fabulous" in the US by leading media critic Danny Schechter and as "outstanding" in Canada. Red Pepper describes it as a "fine anthology".

And Professor James Curran, of Goldsmiths College, University of London said: "If you suspect that the media have not told you the full truth about the Iraq War, read this book. It is a revelation."

Written by some of the world's leading journalists and commentators, David describes the book as "a scathing indictment of the role of the mainstream media in legitimising government actions and undermining dissent.

"Critics, activists and journalists from both sides of the Atlantic explore alternatives such as the Internet and Al Jazeera and provide analysis and guidance on resisting the media war."

Yet, despite being published in the UK and receiving wide acclaim elsewhere, the collection of essays from leading writers has been ignored by Britain's mainstream media.

David speculates that this may be because "Tell Me Lies reveals the systematic propaganda used by both the US and UK governments to convince us of the 'threat' from Iraq.

"It shows how we were deliberately misled into a war that has resulted in a humanitarian disaster in Iraq and threatens to create further instability and resentment of the US and UK throughout the Middle East."

David invites NUJ members and non-members alike to "come and hear the truth about media and propaganda in the attack on Iraq that the mainstream media don't want you to hear."

The Glasgow talk, which will be followed by a discussion, will be at Borders Bookshop, Buchanan St, Glasgow at 4pm Sunday, 25th April.

A similar event will be held at Blackwell's Bookshop, 53-59 South Bridge, Edinburgh on Thursday 29th April at 6.30pm.

Members at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike action.

On the question of a strike, 78 members (74.3 per cent) voted in favour with 27 voting against.

Only three members voted against industrial action short of a strike with 102 (97.1 per cent) voting in favour.

The chapel had voted unanimously to go to a strike ballot over the issue of imposed changes, which would result in job losses and deterioration in newspaper quality.

The manner of the changes was also seen as representing a direct attack on the NUJ and the principle of negotiated change.

The ballot closed at Noon yesterday.

To mark the first anniversary of the Palestine Hotel tragedy in Baghdad when US forces opened fire on 150 journalists, the NUJ is asking members to sign a petition demanding answers from Donald Rumsfeld and Geoff Hoon.

On 8th April 2003, Taras Protsiuk, who was working for Reuters, and José Couso a cameraman for Spanish network Telecinco, were killed and three others were injured in the incident.

However, no credible explanation has ever been offered by the US authorities. Their own internal report cleared military personnel of any wrongdoing or responsibility but calls to make the report's findings public have been rejected.

Investigations into other fatal incidents including the death of ITN reporter Terry Lloyd and his colleagues Fred Nérac and Hussein Osman (missing presumed dead) have been similarly unsatisfactory.

The Pentagon has ignored all calls for an independent inquiry and the development of protocols to assure the safety of war correspondents.

For convenience, the text of the petition to Geoff Hoon and Donald Rumsfield can be emailed to palestinehotel@nuj.org.uk with the name of the media organisation you work for in the subject line.

Text of Petition:

NUJ member and Grampian branch chair, Eugenie Verney, is to run the London marathon on 18th April to raise money for the NUJ Members in Need Fund.

The fund gives financial help to NUJ members with domestic emergencies.

You can sponsor Eugenie online by visiting her page on:

www.justgiving.com/nujmin.

At the time of writing, she had raised £102.56 of her £1000 target.

Alternatively, cheques can be sent to Lena Calvert, Administrator, NUJ Members in Need Fund, Headland House, 308 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP.

Please mark your envelope "Marathon 2004".If you want to cheer her on the day, she will be wearing number 07941.

Broadcasting and media freedom: is the UK model broke?

The NUJ is to take part in a major seminar to mark World Press Freedom Day at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, 4th May.

General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, will join many other respected speakers including BBC broadcaster Charles Wheeler, Stewart Purvis, the former Chief Executive of ITN, Sky TV's political editor, Adam Boulton, and Channel 4 Senior Commissioning Editor, Dorothy Byrne.

The BBC's Robin Lustig will chair the event, which will be held at the Attlee Suite in Portcullis House between 4 and 6pm before an audience of UK politicians, journalists and media specialists.

The NUJ is one of several organisers of the seminar, which is being sponsored by Guardian Foundation, BBC, ITN, Amnesty International and the British Journalism Review.

Admission is free, but please note that Portcullis House security requirements mean that it is essential to book places.

Further details and booking information is available from Debbie Smith, who can be emailed on debbies@nuj.org.uk.

The NUJ and ITN have unveiled a bursary to help promising young journalists break into TV news in memory of Terry Lloyd.

An NUJ member, Terry was killed while reporting the invasion of Iraq.

Launching the bursary, delegates at the Annual Delegates Meeting in Liverpool heard a moving tribute from Terry's friend and colleague John Mitchell, whose Nottingham branch had proposed the idea of the bursary.

Terry's widow Lynn was unable to attend but said: "Myself, Chelsea and Oliver [Terry's two children] are incredibly proud and honoured on Terry's behalf.

"We would like to thank the Nottingham branch for proposing the idea of a bursary and the NUJ and ITN for making it possible. We feel it is a fitting tribute and now someone else will have the opportunity to follow in Terry's footsteps."

NUJ National Broadcasting Organiser, Paul McLaughlin, told the conference that the bursary would provide an annual opportunity for an established journalist to break into national television, in the way that Terry Lloyd did when he began working for ITN in the early 1980s.

Successful candidates will work with ITN for six weeks on projects they have pitched to a panel made up of representatives from ITN, the NUJ and an independent industry figure.

The ITN Father of the Chapel, Dan Stanton, described the bursary as "a wonderful legacy; an opportunity for journalists to do what we all try to do best - to find out the truth."

ITN Chief Executive, Mark Wood, added: "To provide this opportunity for a new generation of broadcast journalists is a fitting tribute to Terry's immense contribution to television journalism. We're very much looking forward to welcoming the first candidate into ITN."

More than a decade after the last major newspaper strike in Scotland, members in the Daily Record and Sunday Mail Chapel have voted to ballot for industrial action.

The move comes in response to a decision to impose changes in Retouch, which would result in job losses and has already affected quality in the papers.

The management decision, which followed changes of senior personnel in Human Resources shocked chapel members.

Relations between staff and management at the papers had improved in recent months and there had been some hopes that continuing constructive dialogue would benefit all concerned at the titles.

However, the restructuring - which would attempt to implement practices that have failed at other newspapers - and the manner in which it has been announced were seen as constituting a clear attack on jobs and the NUJ at the papers, leaving the members in no doubt that a strike ballot was necessary.

The lengthy period in which strikes have been avoided in Scotland shows that such decisions are never taken lightly. Equally, the unanimous verdict on a ballot and the confident mood amongst chapel members demonstrate that, if management had believed that the workers' ultimate sanction was no longer a realistic option, they have been guilty of a serious miscalculation.

The full motion reads:

	This chapel unanimously rejects the imposition of a restructuring of the Retouch department, which will cease to exist under present plans.
	This chapel condemns the lack of collective consultation.
	This chapel expresses its extreme concern at the removal of this work from direct Editorial control.
	This chapel calls upon the management to put this restructuring on hold with immediate effect.
	This chapel instructs union officials to seek urgent talks on the threat to jobs and the impact this will have on the quality of the newspapers.
	This chapel is not prepared to accept this precipitous change in Editorial working practices and authorises officials to invoke the Disputes Procedure if there is no meaningful response from management by noon on 29th March 2004.

At a follow up chapel meeting almost 100 chapel members voted unanimously to ballot for industrial action in light of no movement by Management.