Informed 07


News Update


Encore for Irish recruitment week


The Irish Executive Council is set to run a recruitment week again this year after a successful inaugural event last November. At the January meeting of the IEC’s general purposes committee, cathaoirleach (chair) Gerry Carson and Dublin freelance branch treasurer Kieran Fagan enthusiastically supported the idea of putting a designated recruitment week on the NUJ calendar. Reviewing the 2018 programme, Irish


Secretary Séamus Dooley said the major achievement of the week had been the opportunity to showcase the diverse work of the union. Membership applications were one measure of success, but the profile generated by key national events would have a long-term benefit. In planning for 2019 there would be a sharper focus on measuring tangible outcomes, but he praised the efforts of individual branches in taking up the last-minute challenge set by the IEC for a November recruitment week. With proper planning there was an opportunity for a more comprehensive programme. Among the highlights of the week was a round table on the role of women in the


NUJ


which provide explicit recognition of NUJ membership and confirm rights of access to court records; a move welcomed by the president. In her address Sian stressed that employers had a duty of care to workers required to maintain a social media presence. Cyberhate was not an acceptable occupational hazard and there was no obligation on a worker to put their mental health on the line, no more that they would be required to take physical risks in pursuit of the best photograph or the most up-to-date quote, she said. In Dublin’s Club na Múinteoirí FOI


Chief Justice of Ireland, Frank Clarke, launches a new code for social media in courts.


union hosted by Bernie Mullen, joint- cathaoirleach, and addressed by Sian Jones, president. Dr Laura Bambrick, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ social affairs officer, provided an overview of the role of women in the trade union movement, recalling the role of NUJ members in the Irish women’s liberation movement and campaigns such as the end of the marriage bar and equal pay. Sian Jones also delivered a keynote


address at a seminar hosted by the Courts Service of Ireland in association with Dublin P&PR branch. Chief Justice of Ireland Frank Clarke launched new rules governing use of social media in court


expert Ken Foxe gave a master class in the effective use of the Freedom of Information Act for freelance journalists and highlighted the opportunities for generating stories. The challenges posed to press freedom


by the arrest of journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey were highlighted by broadcaster Cathal MacCoille during an interview with Trevor and Barry following an oversubscribed public screening of No Stone Unturned.


Among other highlights of the week


was the establishment of a new chapel at Journal.ie following a recruitment week attended by NEC member, Gerry Curran, Ian McGuinness, Irish organiser, and Irish Times chapel officer,Éanna Ó Caollaí. There was also a variety of branch


events throughout the country aimed at recruiting students.


NUJ wins for its members


Guney Yildiz is back at the BBC doing a job he loves aſter what became for him a nightmare at the corporation. Aſter long-term problems with his line manager and dissatisfaction with the BBC’s internal procedures, Guney handed in his resignation. Te NUJ took up his case and represented him at an employment tribunal for discrimination and constructive dismissal. Not only did


the union win the case for constructive dismissal, a difficult claim to make, it was able, most unusually, to get him re- engaged with the broadcaster. He is now working in a different department and thriving. He said: “I am now happy at the BBC, thanks to the NUJ. It was all very stressful for me, but I felt so much beter when we got to the tribunal and I was


able to make my case and be heard.” Guney’s is just one of the many successful cases the NUJ’s busy legal team has solved. Te legal department reported to the NEC that a whistle- blowing case had neted more than £100,000 for a member and a similar sum was won for an equal pay claim. Te union is still dealing with more than 200 equal pay claims at the BBC. Te union has recently put out briefings for reps on tribunals, EU media workers and Brexit.


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