NUJ SCOTTISH OFFICE REPORT
December 2002

Daily Newspapers

SMG management has announced the sale of the publishing division to American firm Gannet.

The NUJ has been invited by the DTI to make a submission to the Competitions Commission on the proposed sale.

Despite the diversions of the sale, negotiations on a new house agreement were completed with SMG Publishing a week before the sale was agreed.

Talks were carried out with the Scottish Organiser and the FoCs from the Herald, Sunday Herald, Evening Times and Caledonian Magazines.

There was a two-tier structure for holidays and sick pay, with all staff joining since July 1998 on inferior conditions.

We asked that the conditions be levelled up and sought a one-off lump sum payment.

The management offered improvements in the sick pay scheme and an extra one-day holiday.

The pay offer across the board is worth 4% over two years.

Additional payments of up to £160.00 are also offered for mobile phone users.

A mass meeting of all four chapels unanimously accepted the deal.

We have also been briefing and lobbying support with politicians and other unions for our campaign to maintain the editorial independence and journalistic standards within all titles regardless of the new owners.

Assurances on the final salary pension scheme have also been sought before the takeover.

Trinity Mirror

The first house agreement for over 12 years was signed at the Daily Record & Sunday Mail.

After a series of negotiations with the MD and Managing Editor the new extensive agreement has been produced which includes policies on dignity at work (bullying), working time, transparent expenses guidelines and ethics.

The chapel endorsed the new agreement at a mass meeting, but warned the company they were not prepared to accept the agreement in theory only but would expect the policies within to be implemented and accepted by editorial management.

Talks have started on a new pay deal for 2003.

They got off to a good start with agreement reached on a premium payment of double time for working Hogmanay after 7pm.

An initial pay offer was made across the board of 2.25%.

New pay structures are also being negotiated.

Scotsman Publications

Talks on pay have started this month with the possibility of a two-year deal and addressing low pay/anomalies in line with SMG and Trinity.

Formalisation of the Time Off In Lieu agreement in the Evening News is also on the horizon as talks continue.

Business AM

Has closed. There is a possibility of a new owner re-opening in the New Year as a weekly title.

The chapel has asked the Scottish Organiser to pressure parent company Bonnier for improved redundancy terms.

Aberdeen Journals

A formal submission for recognition has been made to Aberdeen Journals through the CAC following rejection by management of a voluntary deal.

Recruitment increases despite efforts by management to intimidate staff.

Dates have been set for the end of January for the long-awaited tribunal for former MoC Eugenie Verney against Aberdeen Journals management.

Weekly Newspapers

Clyde & Forth have announced drastic changes to their Ayrshire titles with an immediate threat to four editor's jobs and a future threat to editorial jobs across the group.

An investigation into bullying by the editorial management team has been completed in the Greenock Telegraph with proposals for improving management methods.

A 5% deal over two years was reached with an improved pay structure for photographers. This meant a £3k increase for one snapper.

Negotiations with Trinity-S&UN are ongoing as they review their Ayrshire and Perth/Stirling titles.

This could lead to a further cut of six jobs and an extension of the centralised subbing pool system.

A pay claim has been submitted but talks are on hold pending re-structuring.

Recruitment at Archant (CML-Eastern Counties) has increased dramatically leading to a recognition claim to management.

Pay talks have started with the Johnston Group. For the first time in years the group chapel are leading the negotiations from the beginning, the claim is for 11% with the chapels seeking parity with the national average wage of £24K.

Recognition and new house agreement talks are to begin soon at Scottish County Press, now part of the Johnston Group.

Recognition talks continue with Borders Weeklies, covering two titles in Peebles and Galashields, while recruitment at Haddington will bring theEast Lothian Courier into the claim.

Broadcasting

Joint talks with BECTU are taking place on multi-skilling and a new mechanism for progressing staff through the pay bands at STV and Grampian TV.

The company have agreed to address outstanding pay anomalies as part of the pay deal.

The offer was for 2% across the board with anomaly payments of between 3% and 27% for up to 80 individuals.

The deal will be voted on in a consultative ballot.

Recruitment and organisation in local radio continues to grow.

The Assistant Organiser held a series of meetings with the Training Director and ten heads of news at Scottish Radio Holdings to introduce NUJ providing training for all their editorial staff in Scotland.

This has now begun and is a clear stepping stone towards recognition.

Books and Magazines

The NUJ at Harper Collins has fought off an attempt to reduce redundancy terms by half.

The chapel voted overwhelmingly for industrial action following an attempt to force through two compulsory redundancies at lower terms than exist in the house agreement.

The company backed down, restoring the terms to one month for every year up to 25 years service.

A number of attempts to change conditions have been met with a grievance procedure and the union is fighting to maintain the long-standing house agreement.

Talks are about to start on pay.

PR

Recruitment continues at the Scottish Parliament and a training programme for MSPs researchers and PROs organised by the Assistant Organiser is leading to increased interest and recruitment.

A media awareness training programme for PR/civil servants has also been introduced.

Agreement with the SNP has now been reached with recognition for parliamentary staff and possibly all party staff to follow.

We have started talks with senior management at the Scottish Parliament on new terms and conditions affecting party staff.

Talks are ongoing with PROs in the parliament with a view to initiating a campaign for salaries of party and parliamentary staff to be paid direct by parliament, removing the onus of paying for staff from MSPS through allowances.

Two PR companies based in Edinburgh and Glasgow have approached the union for training and recruitment has started.

Freelance

The copyright dispute with Scotsman Publications is progressing towards the courts following an insulting reply by the company.

One test case is proceeding over breach of copyright for use of photographs on the website.

Following a favourable settlement for a freelance photographer against News International, a number of freelancers are awaiting union legal advice on the possibility of claims for paid holidays and reproduction fees after being ditched from their regular employment.

Another snapper has submitted a claim for £17K for compensation for unpaid repro fees after having the number of shifts drastically reduced.

Training

After many years of providing training in universities and colleges for individual members the training process is changing towards a different focus.

A number of companies are talking to the Assistant Organiser about in-house training.

These include Scottish Radio Holdings, SMG, Scottish Provincial Press in the Highlands, Trinity-S&UN, Johnstons and Clyde & Forth the latter named are the four main weekly newspaper groups in Scotland.

CML, another company who previously were anti-union in practice, are also paying for their staff to take up our courses.

The courses have also expanded and diversified including different levels of QuarkXpress, subbing, text handling, Scots law for journalists, feature writing and how to be a successful freelance.

All of these courses are delivered by NUJ members.

Another two members have been commissioned to develop courses on the subjects of on-line journalism and page design/layout.

We also ran a course specifically for Scotsman.com staff, paid for by The Scotsman management.

We have successfully bid for funding from Scottish Enterprise (£50K) for a literacy campaign, highlighting the shortcomings in education in areas of grammar and language.

Part of the project will involve a joint training initiative with the Scottish Professional Footballers Association.

A series of projects are about to begin with aim-hi the media training organisation for the Highlands and Islands including on-line training provision in subjects such as Scots Law for Journalists, Local Government, short-hand and grammar skills.

Proposal for a Scottish one-day conference on Islam for NUJ members from Elyas Hussain

As an NUJ member and practising Muslim myself, I have managed to link up with other Muslim organisations and community leaders to propose this first ever Conference on Islam for all Scottish NUJ members.

This will give all of you journalists the chance to understand the real Islam, without any misrepresentations or misinterpretations.

The conference will enlighten you on many of the misconceptions that you may have on Islam, drugs, marriages, terrorism, etc and in turn you will be able to go back and report on Islamic issues with a greater authority.

Because of the logistics, the conference will be held in Spring 2003. An exact date and location have yet to be confirmed.

I am looking for the NUJ to fund this conference and Angela Austin is currently considering this aspect.

This is just a brief reminder to members to support this much needed conference.

This is why I would like all the NUJ members to show their support by passing this proposal and more importantly attending this conference.

The one-day event will start off with a guided tour of Central Mosque, where you will see how the mosque works. This will be followed by four seminars on varying aspects of Islam, with a Q&A at the end of each seminar. The day will conclude with a networking session to meet Muslim leaders and scholars, who will provide a good reference point for NUJ journalists on specific issues of Islam.

Hopefully, at the end of the day NUJ members will go away with a better understanding of Islam and its culture. This will then hopefully be reflected in their more positive and accurate reporting of Muslims and Islam.

Elyas Hussain

Jack Foley: On fire, On course, Online

Jack Foley is firing on all cylinders producing on an internet online version of the Basic Text Handling course that has been on the go at the Glasgow College of Building and Printing ("Subbing" as the old hands know it). He says that it's going very well and that stylesheets are cascading out of his ears and his Java cakes.

The project moves into the final preparation stages at the beginning of next week and a full dress rehearsal in front of a very limited audience is due in the middle January. Hopefully, this will enable us to bring the course to the many members who cannot attend the college classes because of distance or other commitments.