Informed NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE issue 54 September 2026 National Executive Council update


Te National Executive Council (NEC) met on 26 June and remembered the lives of prominent union figures John Mathews, John Bailey, and Veronica Guerin. Te quarterly meeting fell on the 30th


anniversary of Guerin’s murder, with Séamus Dooley our assistant general secretary penning a tribute for the NUJ website to his former colleague, who he remembered as “as a dogged, ambitious journalist [...] as a fanatic sports fan, as a political junkie, as someone who loved life.” NEC members noted that Guerin’s murder serves as a reminder of the threats that journalists continue to face – both in the UK and around the world – with so many unwillingly losing their lives to preserve press freedom. Te NEC ratified various motions and decisions in a packed agenda. Te Council carried a motion by the newly-formed AI & Copyright Commitee recognising the need for ‘personality’ rights to protect creative workers whose living depends on their image, while calling for any legislation to include safeguards that explicitly protect newsgatherers’ ability to take photos and videos for reporting purposes. Te NEC additionally endorsed proposals by the Scotish Executive Council (SEC) to merge branches as well as new reporting guidelines on sexual violence developed by the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition and Dr Alessia Tranchese, an associate professor of language, feminism and digital media at the University of Portsmouth. Te EVAW coalition and Tranchese discussed the guidelines at a recent Ethics Council webinar, a summary of which was published in the June edition of NUJ Informed. Te NEC also agreed the union’s


Also in this issue:


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Also in this issue:


motions to TUC Congress, held from 13-16 September in Brighton. Taxing the tech giants and protecting public broadcasting were the agreed topics, with the Council later sending a message of solidarity and backing to members at the BBC. Industry decline is not inevitable – it can and must be fought. While the union has secured strong support from the government – including private and public commitments from the culture secretary to pursue worker representation and remove political appointees – the union’s real power and leverage comes from our members. In a unanimously agreed statement, the NEC noted that “cuts to the BBC will have a huge impact on full- time and freelance journalists as well as the wider creative industry” and offered full support to any industrial strategy BBC members deem necessary to fight for jobs and programming. Chapels and branches have since


taken action to show solidarity with BBC members. Te South West branch joined the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival from 17-19 July to publicise a joint petition launched by the NUJ and sister unions, calling on the Prime Minister


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and Director General to protect the BBC and its workers. On the same weekend, the Birmingham & Coventry branch organised a special meeting to discuss resistance to the cuts with John McDonnell MP, NUJ parliamentary group secretary, joining for over 45 minutes to share plans and ideas. Te branch agreed to publicise the petition, write to their MP using our template leter, and pass a motion backing the BBC and its workers. Chapels and branches looking to adopt similar solidarity statements can find a template motion on the NUJ website. Our new Organising, Defending, Winning strategy sets out how the union will work to drive recruitment, retention and organising at every level. In the NEC’s aſternoon session, members split into groups to discuss how to put the strategy into action by building a stronger culture of activism across the union. Discussions focused on eligibility thresholds for new members, potential reforms to membership grades, and the union’s Fighting Fund. No decisions were taken but the discussions will inform the NEC’s motions to the next Delegate Meeting in April 2027.


Remembering Lionel Morrison Page 12


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