Rules 2002

Appendix B - Working practices

1. A member shall study and obey the rules of the union and the code of conduct.

2. A member shall not act, by commission or omission, against the interests of the union or of the trade union movement.

3. A member who is terminating his/her employment shall give notice according to individual or collective agreement or custom and practice unless the employer consents to a variation.

4. A member shall not, by unfair methods, seek promotion to or obtain the position of another journalist.

5. A member shall not exploit the labour of another journalist by plagiarism or the unauthorised use of his/her work for any purpose.

6. A member who does lineage work shall surrender part or whole of that work to conform with any pooling scheme approved by the NEC to provide a member with a livelihood.

7. A member who is a staff reporter shall not normally take photographs and a member who is a staff photographer shall not normally report. Freelance reporters shall not take photographs or freelance photographers report, if by so doing they deprive another freelance of income.

8. Members shall ensure, by support of union organisation and of their colleagues, that participation in union activity does not damage a member’s employment, advancement or employment prospects.

9. A member shall not directly or indirectly attempt to obtain for himself/herself or anyone else any regular or occasional lineage work, connection or commission which is rightfully undertaken by another member.

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 so doing 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 in the office in which the work is to be done and established that he/she is not taking work which can be undertaken by a freelance or unemployed member.

11. A member in a position to commission freelance work shall always attempt to offer it first to a freelance or unemployed member of the union. No member with authority to commission work shall attempt to induce any freelance or casual to perform work for a lower rate of pay or under less favourable conditions than those laid down by any union agreement covering the work in question, or to allocate work to any non-member unless he/she can prove to his/her branch that no suitable member is available and willing to do the work in question. A member who commissions work shall do all in his or her power to ensure payments are made on time.

12. A member shall treat other journalists with consideration.

13. A member shall not accept employment on terms and conditions inferior to those provided for in collective agreements which apply to his/her place of work.

14. It shall be the duty of any member to inform his/her F/MoC of his/her terms and conditions of employment, on request.

15. Freelance members of the union employing salaried assistants shall do so in all respects in accordance with union agreements, the policies of the union and the recognised customs and practices of journalism.