Informed 03


made it clear that this was not a problem confined to a number of high-earning presenters – this was a systemic issue that ran through the corporation. Our affected members work in all grades and levels of the BBC. Many have raised their concerns over a number of years – they have been misled, lied to and in many cases forced out of their staff jobs on to contracts that have increased their job insecurity and meant they have missed out on benefits such as sick and maternity pay. Te culture remained too much like a boys’ club where men profited from promotion and more pay, with the news division one of the worst culprits because of the serial misuse of managerial discretion. Instead of holding their hands up, accepting there is a problem and working with staff and unions to sort it, the BBC was adopting a bunker mentality and trying to pretend things were not as bad as they were. More transparency is needed – as is a radical restructuring of pay and expenditure and a complaints system that has independent involvement. I was also clear that gender pay inequality is not only a problem at the BBC – it is an issue across the industry, in newspapers as well as in broadcasting. At a recent meeting with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, I spoke of the spike in equal pay cases in other parts of the industry – with media companies now keen to resolve cases swiſtly and avoid the spotlight that the BBC is currently under. It is clear that one of the unintended consequences of the EHRC’s implementation of the gender pay gap regulations is that it is focusing atention on, and sparking conversations about, equal pay – something the commission hadn’t anticipated. As the deadline looms for companies


to publish gender pay, it is clear many are waiting for a busy news day to slip out their results unnoticed. Tere is a journalistic job of work to ensure they don’t get away with it, so equal pay one day soon becomes a reality.


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the- Journalist | 27


It was with great sadness that I learned of the sudden death of Simeon Andrews – Simeon ran the consultancy operating the NUJ’s Parliamentary Group since its inception and was the key figure in bringing a number of like- minded unions together to forge the Trade Union Coordinating Group. His professionalism, knowledge, and political skills, coupled with his deep commitment to the trade union movement, made Simeon an absolute pleasure to work with and a massive asset to the NUJ’s work in parliament. Our collective condolences go to his family, particularly his partner Cathy and daughter Lily.


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