Congratulations to Pennie Quinton who has won a stunning victory in the European Court of Human Rights against the abuse of stop and search powers.
I've documented here the political campaigning we've been doing against the abuse of this law and how photographers in particular are being stopped from properly documenting protest and dissent.
Pennie's victory should lead to the scrapping of Section 44 or at the very least severely restricted powers for the police to stop people without a real suspicion. I know from talking to Pennie today what a stress the whole case has placed on her and her life but she's done civil liberties and journalism a real service - and we thank her, and Liberty, who supported the case.
This week I've also organised a major meeting with the union's legal service providers to review the operation of our services, chaired the TUC's trades councils consultative committee, met with a photographer about a case they are pursuing, with the staff at Justice for Colombia and met another of those tendering for the redesign contract for The Journalist. I think the editor, Christine, is nearing a decision on who to appoint.
I've also provided MPs with a number of possible questions about public service broadcasting and the Independently Financed News Consortia for DCMS questions later this month. I also did an interview about the threats against journalists from neo-nazi website Redwatch.
This afternoon I've meetings with Bectu and with our broadcasting organiser to talk about BBC pay and pensions.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
Aint'cha just sick of it....
Sick of yet another snow story? I know most of our members are which is why the Daily Mash spoof is doing the rounds of many newsrooms.
More shocking news with the revelation that News International broke its own employment practices in unfairly dismissing Clive Goodman in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. As Roy Greenslade points out today - we are slowly getting at the truth, but there's a way to go.
But back to serious business. Spent much of the last two days with Christine Buckley the new editor of The Journalist hearing pitches from designers seeking the contract to redesign the magazine. It's been fascinating and she will have a hard job making the decision next week.
I also wrote to Johnston Press expressing concern about the undue haste they are trying to implement the changes across South Yorskshire and Derbyshire by centralising production, spoke to members at the BBC and at Setanta.
This morning I attended the Federation of Entertainment Unions meeting and handed over the chair for the next 12 months to Gerry Morrissey, the General Secretary of Bectu. Also had a meeting with him and officials from both unions about a new recruitment campaign we are planning at a major employer..more soon!
Also more soon about Club Union @ Union City - an exciting new cross-union venture I'm involved with showing unions aren't just about dull meetings. Keep your eyes peeled for the first night...it'll be worth it!
More shocking news with the revelation that News International broke its own employment practices in unfairly dismissing Clive Goodman in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. As Roy Greenslade points out today - we are slowly getting at the truth, but there's a way to go.
But back to serious business. Spent much of the last two days with Christine Buckley the new editor of The Journalist hearing pitches from designers seeking the contract to redesign the magazine. It's been fascinating and she will have a hard job making the decision next week.
I also wrote to Johnston Press expressing concern about the undue haste they are trying to implement the changes across South Yorskshire and Derbyshire by centralising production, spoke to members at the BBC and at Setanta.
This morning I attended the Federation of Entertainment Unions meeting and handed over the chair for the next 12 months to Gerry Morrissey, the General Secretary of Bectu. Also had a meeting with him and officials from both unions about a new recruitment campaign we are planning at a major employer..more soon!
Also more soon about Club Union @ Union City - an exciting new cross-union venture I'm involved with showing unions aren't just about dull meetings. Keep your eyes peeled for the first night...it'll be worth it!
Monday, January 04, 2010
We're all in this together..
The financial crisis is a time for us all to tighten our belts and share in the pain. Isn't it? Not apparently at the Daily Mail and General Trust.
First news reaches us of Paul Dacre raking in a tidy £1.63m last year - just one of five directors earning more than £1m. Dacre's basic salary - if £1.13m can be called basic - rose 3% (nice work if you can get it) and he received a cash allowance for his pension as well as help towards his accommodation and benefits in kind. If only MPs could get such allowances. His pension now stands at a cool £583,000 a year. MPs have a lot to learn from greedy pigs like Dacre.
But even Dacre's whopping wad is but mere lose change to Padraic Fallon, the group's highest paid director who received £3.46m. Viscount Rothermere had to make do with an 87.4% rise in his pay to £1.32m.
Meanwhile over at the Leicester Mercury - also owned by the DMGT subsidiary Northcliffe - the prize for the crassest seasonal email goes to editor Keith Perch who managed to offend virtually the entire newsroom by lamenting the cuts and axing of around 50 journalists from the group's staff and ending with the following 'joke' - what's the definition of optimism? A regional newspaper journalist ironing five shirts on a Sunday.
Still. Just remember. We're all in this together...
First news reaches us of Paul Dacre raking in a tidy £1.63m last year - just one of five directors earning more than £1m. Dacre's basic salary - if £1.13m can be called basic - rose 3% (nice work if you can get it) and he received a cash allowance for his pension as well as help towards his accommodation and benefits in kind. If only MPs could get such allowances. His pension now stands at a cool £583,000 a year. MPs have a lot to learn from greedy pigs like Dacre.
But even Dacre's whopping wad is but mere lose change to Padraic Fallon, the group's highest paid director who received £3.46m. Viscount Rothermere had to make do with an 87.4% rise in his pay to £1.32m.
Meanwhile over at the Leicester Mercury - also owned by the DMGT subsidiary Northcliffe - the prize for the crassest seasonal email goes to editor Keith Perch who managed to offend virtually the entire newsroom by lamenting the cuts and axing of around 50 journalists from the group's staff and ending with the following 'joke' - what's the definition of optimism? A regional newspaper journalist ironing five shirts on a Sunday.
Still. Just remember. We're all in this together...
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