tuc news in brief...


CHANNEL 4 RETHINK AN OBJECT LESSON Signs there might be rethink of the Channel 4 privatisation plan came after a “magnificent” campaign by unions, said NEC member Pennie Quinton. The movement had enlisted the support of MPs and peers to stop ministers selling it off, and there were signs that the government was less committed to the policy. “Guile, tenacity and imagination deliver us victories, even when the odds are stacked against us,” Quinton said.


COLLECTIVE BEGGING, NOT BARGAINING Congress demanded stronger action to oppose the Trade Union Act. While unions had secured concessions on facility time and check-off, delegates called for an urgent meeting to organise resistance to the legislation, which restricts the ability to strike. Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said that, without an unambiguous right to take industrial action, collective bargaining was “collective begging”.


USE UK STEEL FOR MAJOR PROJECTS The government should use British steel for all major infrastructure projects amid deep uncertainty over the industry’s future, the conference decided. Ministerial inaction was in danger of turning once proud industrial cities into “forgotten ghost towns”, GMB rep Ian Kemp said.


ASOS THE NEXT SPORTS DIRECT Online clothing giant Asos “will be the next Sports Direct” in the fight against exploitation, a fringe meeting heard. GMB national secretary Justin Bowden said workers had to “urinate in the water fountain” at an Asos warehouse because of restrictions on toilet breaks.


THERESA MAY IN CLASS WAR In a meeting with the TUC general council, Jeremy Corbyn accused the prime minster of attempting to “segregate” children based on social class by reintroducing grammar schools. It wasn’t just a matter for education unions, it was a matter for everyone, he said.


6 | theJournalist


Snoopers’ Charter Mark 2 devastating for journalists


Investigatory Powers Bill, but delegates agreed with the union that more changes were needed to the profoundly authoritarian proposals. The Bill – the Snoopers’


T


Charter Mark 2 – was in its closing stages in parliament as the TUC’s annual conference in Brighton demanded additional safeguards. Proposing a motion that


also called for an end to the growing surveillance culture in Britain, NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the bill – even as amended – would give the state new, potent powers to spy on its citizens, individually and collectively. It would also be disastrous


for investigative reporters: “This ill-thought out, knee-jerk piece of legislation is professionally devastating,” Stanistreet told delegates.


he NUJ won acclaim at the TUC for its success in weakening the


“


“One of the core principles journalists hold dear is their responsibility to protect their sources … Yet this law will take away that ability.” Authorities would be able to


identity people through emails, phone records and metadata from smartphones that showed where a journalist had been and when. Police and security services would also be able to remotely access phones and use them as bugging devices, said Stanistreet.


Telecoms firms would have


to hand over all the data on a journalist’s phone account to the police without permission or even telling them. Stanistreet said the NUJ


was fighting a legal battle against the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the home secretary because six NUJ members had their lawful journalistic and union activities monitored by police and stored by a unit that was set up to monitor domestic extremism.


FREELANCES NEED UNION SUPPORT B


ritain needs fundamental reform of the rights of


“atypical” workers and the labour movement must show that unions are on their side, congress decided. More than 15 per cent of the UK’s workforce are in the “gig economy” and freelances form a third of


the NUJ’s membership. They were often the first casualty when employers seek savings and “casualisation” repeatedly came at the same time as staff cuts. A resolution seconded by


NUJ president Tim Dawson demanded collective bargaining and intellectual property rights for self-


employed workers, fair contracts and access to the benefits system. The motion,


proposed by actors’ union Equity, also called for safeguards against proposals to make self-employed workers submit quarterly reports to the HMRC.


ly A licence to cut BBC jobs


ensure high-quality output was maintained. The TUC’s concern followed a “dodgy” deal


D


between the corporation and the government last year in which the BBC agreed to bear the


elegates registered their “alarm” at the prospect of a declining BBC and demanded a revised funding regime to


cost of free licences for the over 75s – which equates to a fifth of the income from the current licence fee. Seconding the motion, NUJ vice-president Sian


Jones said the union was not against the free licences, but the price was being paid in terms of job cuts, reduced output and lower quality.


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ALL IMAGES JESS HURD


One of the core principles journalists hold dear is their responsibility to protect their sources


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