Daily
Newspapers
Chapels
and the Scottish Organiser demanded a meeting with
senior management of Newsquest Strathclyde after concerns
were raised at The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening
Times as well as Caledonian Magazines.
Chapels
had discovered budget cuts had been forced on editors
at the titles without consultation. Policy changes
had also been introduced without discussion with the
union officers.
There
was also concern expressed at the lack of clear line
management. The Regional Managing Director has given
a written assurance that he is keen have a good working
relationship with the NUJ in Scotland.
Chapels
at the Scotsman Publications are stepping up their
campaign for a fair and equitable pay structure. Following
negotiations resulting in extra increases for around
25 members the chapel officials and Scottish Organiser
are looking at the next stage of the campaign.
This
will almost certainly revolve around the equal pay
legislation which came in recently.
Recognition
campaigners at Aberdeen Evening Express are continuing
their recruitment efforts in a bid to establish over
50% membership prior to a further claim to the CAC
to launch a ballot for recognition at the Journals
tabloid title. A new, impressive leaflet had been
produced and is due for distribution.
Daily
Record & Sunday Mail staff are still unhappy about
interpretation of the newly agreed expenses procedures
by some editorial managers despite the removal of
editor Peter Cox from the equation. Staff have also
asked the union to raise issues of the pension situation
at Trinity.
Joint
union talks have taken place after the company proposed
redundancies in the picture library (GPMU). Concerns
were expressed at this having implications for NUJ
members and a joint approach has been agreed.
Weekly
Newspapers
Pay
talks at the weekly newspaper groups in Scotland have
moved ahead in recent months with some impressive
movement in targeting lower-paid journalists for larger
than norm increases.
Trinity-S&UN
group chapel voted two to one for deal worth 2.75%
across the board and 5.5% on the junior and senior
basic rates.
Johnston
Group talks have been settled with a two year offer
of 2.75% core increases for each year and increases
on the basic of 4% per year on the basic rate driving
up lower salary bands.
There
was also a 10% increase in responsibility rates as
part of the package. Talks are ongoing at Tweeddale
Press and Scottish County Press (both Johnston Group).
Scottish
Provincial Press Group Chapel have accepted an offer
of 3% plus a review on a new responsibility scale
and the chapel are seeking a more transparent pay
structure as part of the agreement.
Dunfermline
Press (Clyde & Forth Press Group) settled for
a two-year deal worth 4% and talks are ongoing at
the Alloa and Ayrshire parts of the group.
Broadcasting
Pay
talks at SMG were finally settled with a two-year
deal worth a minimum of 5.75% up to 30% in some cases
for the lower paid at STV and Grampian TV.
A further
dispute had erupted at SMG following the announcement
of redundancies at Grampian TV.
The
company has moved to new premises and wanted NUJ members
to take on work currently carried out by BECTU members.
This would have meant redundancies for the BECTU editors.
This
was fought off with six jobs saved and increases for
14 NUJ newsroom staffers up to 22% although the company
had suspended four members prior to a deal being reached.
Increases were between £1500 and £5400.
A number
of individual cases at BBC Scotland have been handled
in recent weeks and support for the FoC and recently
resurrected Glasgow Broadcasting branch is being stepped
up by the NUJ Scottish office.
Freelance
Talks
continue at SMG Publishing over a new freelance agreement,
the first for three years. Increases in freelance
rates for a number of weekly titles (Greenock Telegraph
(Clyde & Forth press Group) and Inverness Courier,
Highland News (Scottish Provincial Press Group)) were
also achieved with support from the chapels involved.
Legal
action against Scotsman Publications on breach of
copyright for use on the web has now started.
Newly
elected branch officers at the West of Scotland Freelance
Branch have started working closely with the organisers
in developing practical steps to help freelances in
areas of payment and copyright breeches.
Public
Relations
The
newly elected SNP Group of MSPs have agreed to sign
up collectively for a recognition agreement covering
PR and research staff with the NUJ as part of their
new standing orders for the new parliament.
Recruitment
in the parliament continues to bring in new members
and training courses have been arranged.
Books
Harper
Collins chapel spent four months trying to wear down
management after a 2% offer was made. The issue of
collective bargaining was paramount during the extended
talks.
At the
conclusion of the pay deal the company announced redundancies
in the dictionary section. The chapel threatened industrial
action to force full and meaningful consultation including
discussion on alternative to job losses.
The
company conceded and have now entered talks on the
new procedures and agreed that a cultural change on
consultation was required.
Training
The
NUJ Literacy Training programme was unveiled at the
STUC annual congress, with a number of trial runs
being carried out by activists over the next few weeks.
The
project can be done on-line or via CD-Rom and is aimed
at improving writing and grammar skills. Plans to
expand the project are under way as new funding bids
are due this month.
A number
of initiatives on improving the NUJ standing with
ethnic minorities have proven to be quite successful
in the last month.
A conference,
Understanding Islam, raised some controversy but was
an outstanding success with wider dialogue taking
place to take things forward. The NUJ in Scotland
has also joined in a pilot scheme with the Commission
for Racial Equality to develop trade union links.
The
scheme includes training and guidance for chapel officers
and full-time officers in handling race discrimination
cases. Meetings with the Refugee Council have also
resulted in ongoing training being developed with
active NUJ members.
A new
training programme for PROs within AMICUS has been
agreed and gets under way in August and the Assistant
Organiser has set up a training programme for the
Scottish Parliament media department.
This
will provide the union with recruitment opportunities
as well as work for freelance members delivering training.
Paul
Holleran
Scottish Organiser
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