News round-up: BBC bloggers wind up their campaign and NUJ website revamp July 17, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in Israel boycott, NUJ.1 comment so far
Looks like BBC journalists calling for a ballot of NUJ members about the Israel “boycott” motion have written their last blog post for now.
They have decided to scale down their campaign in the light of the NEC’s decision not to press ahead with calls for a boycott.
In the post, Rory Cellan-Jones applauds the NEC’s decision and the role of general secretary Jeremy Dear in bringing the saga to a close. He also backed the union’s drive to encourage the 32 members who resigned their membership following the boycot motion to rejoin the union.
He adds:
“Because this is just the first chapter in what should become a campaign to reform the NUJ. Next year’s ADM is likely to feature another 200 or so motions on everything from global warming to nuclear power to Venezuela – more issues which most of us feel are for individuals to care about, rather than for NUJ posturing.
Most of us are too busy to spend time at branch meetings, but let’s try to make the effort to ensure that the people elected to represent us at ADM concentrate on issues that matter to us.”
See the full post here
NEC: “No further action” over boycott call July 9, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in ADM, Israel boycott, NUJ.add a comment
Last week the union’s NEC met. One of the issues on the agenda is the so-called Israel boycott, which has been debated widely here and elsewhere.
For those of you who have been on the planet Ork for the past few months, the motion Composite B didn’t exactly call for a boycott, but to urge the TUC to call for a boycott. The motion was passed by a narrow margin. However, there has still been a lot of controversy over this particular ADM decision and a campaign was launched by union members at the BBC and elsewhere urging a ballot on this issue.
Well, last week the NEC agreed not to take the boycott call any further. Since the motion was passed in April, the union has received a letter from the TUC which rejected the idea of a boycott. It said:
General Council is likely to take the position that this is not a priority for the PGFTU, still less the Histadrut, and would undermine our ability to act as go-betweens”, and that “Congress, which has consistently supported the same approach, would also be to oppose the call”.
The NEC says that as a result of this letter, the union will take “no further action” on the call for a boycott. It also recognises the opposition to the motion from branches, chapels and individual members.
The NEC’s motion rejects accusations of antisemitism and resolves to continue the union’s work with the Israeli journalists’ union. It calls for members to unite behind the union’s campaigns on industrial issues.
BBC petition update May 31, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in ADM, Israel boycott.4 comments
Last week we brought you news of the BBC members’ petition, which seeks to overturn the Israel boycott. Now the petition has been amended. It now calls on the union to ballot members to find out whether they support the decision taken at ADM. You can read the full version here.
There has been some discussion of whether this is the right way of going about policy change on this site and on the Stopnujboycott blog. Some see this as part of a wider debate on reforming policy making in the union. Do you see the need for a change?
BBC journalists blog to overturn boycott May 23, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in Israel boycott, NUJ.4 comments
BBC union members have launched a blog highlighting their campaign to persuade the union to reverse a policy calling for a boycott of Israeli goods. They have launched a petition to get the ban overturned. This will be discussed by the union’s policy committee on 8 June 2007.
Convergence news and ‘that motion’ May 11, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in ADM, convergence, integration, Israel boycott, NUJ.1 comment so far
Here’s a couple of updates from the NUJ website, which you might have missed.
There’s a short piece on last Saturday’s convergence event and the launch of the NUJ Commission on Multimedia. If you attetended this event, please leave a comment with your views and observations on the discussion.
The ADM-elected members of the Commission are Paula Dear, Helene Mulholland, Jemima Kiss, Gary Herman, with NEC-elected Donnacha DeLong and John Barsby.
Also, NUJ general secretary, Jeremy Dear has written a piece for Tribune on ‘that motion’. He reveals he’s had some death threats and points out that those who complain about the Israel motion being passed only have theirselves to blame.
He points out that the union’s largest branch (presumably the freelance branch) wrote to members pointing out the motion and inviting them to discuss at a meeting. No-one did, yet many of the complaints came from this branch. You can read more here.
Politics: In or Out of the Union? May 10, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in global issues, Israel boycott, meeting, politicisation.add a comment
For Monday’s meeting of the London Magazine Branch, we will be debating whether the union should play a part in wider political issues.
Magazines National Executive member Martin Cloake and Nick Serpell from BBC TV News will put the arguments for and against. Pete McCready and Niall Hunt will chair.
Here is an extract from the Maglight Newsletter:
“In the wake of the Annual Delegates Meeting, which passed a motion calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, the last (inquorant) branch meeting thought it was time we had a proper discussion about this particular hot potato.
Media Workers Against the War editorial May 9, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in Israel boycott, politicisation, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Well, it took them a while to get round to it, but Media Workers Against the War have now got a piece on their blog about the row over the Israel boycott. Worth having a look with London Magazine Branch’s debate on politicisation of the union coming up next week.
The main plank of the article is that the argument that journalists should be impartial does not stand up, when you consider that many of us work for publications with a political agenda.
By the way, this blog has now reached a landmark – we’ve broken the 100 visits mark. Woo hoo!
ADM in the news April 16, 2007
Posted by rosieniven in ADM, Israel boycott, politicisation, press coverage, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
The union has been causing quite a stir in the press. Most of the coverage has centred round one particular motion on boycotting Israel, which was narrowly passed by the union. Here’s the Guardian’s coverage of the debate. They also have a blog covering the ADM.
Some people in the union believe that the union should concentrate on bread and butter workplace issues rather than wider politics. Journalist Craig McGinty shares this view. The NUJ’s own ADM blog contains a post by someone about this emerging debate.
But others argue that members benefit from the union taking a stance on important issues. There is also a precedent already set, with the union opposing aparthied in South Africa during the 1980s. Some argue that these boycotts helped to bring democracy to South Africa in the early 1990s. Muslim Public Affairs UK notes that boycotts are effective tools and that a number of unions already boycott Israel.
Please feel free to add any relevant links you find in the comment section.
NUJ Policy 