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Stella leads chapel to success at


Galway Bay FM Galway Bay FM’s NUJ members are getting an extra €20 euro a week after members voted to accept an agreement negotiated on their behalf.


SIPTU and NUJ negotiated the agreement, the first leg of which was backdated to June 1st, 2017 and runs until August 31st this year. A further €20 per week will then be paid on top of this, with this leg of the agreement running from September 1st, 2018 until August 31st, 2019. In return the members agreed to being paid


fortnightly instead of weekly. The company had wanted to move to a monthly payroll but the fortnightly payment compromise was agreed. The company also agreed to pay a Christmas bonus in 2017. Stella Meehan, MOC, played an important


role in guiding the negotiations throughout. Irish Organiser, Ian McGuinness praised Stella: “Having an MOC on the ground is vital and Stella was pivotal in organising the NUJ members on this. She liaised with the NUJ Irish Office, our chapel members and SIPTU and kept everybody up to speed. This result shows the importance of organising a chapel in your workplace and electing an MOC/FOC.”


Radio stations’ staff organise in face of


redundancies NUJ members in FM104 and Q102 have organised a chapel and elected officers. The stations are owned by the Wireless Group, which in turn is owned by NewsCorp. Full and part-time employees at the Dublin-


based radio stations were involved in a long- running redundancy consultation and restructuring process, which began in June 2017 and ran for nearly six months. The company refuses to collectively recognise unions but the NUJ Irish Office provided representation and advice during individual consultation meetings. Four full-time and three part-time staff were made redundant on the enhanced voluntary redundancy scheme offered by the company. Despite protests by the NUJ that the company was profitable (it made over €4.9 million in the 2015 financial year, up from just over €4.6 million in the 2014 financial year) and that redundancies could hurt the quality of the output; the company proceeded with its plans. While there were no compulsory redundancies, the NUJ has serious concerns about the workload and stress that will fall on the remaining staff and will be monitoring the situation carefully.


Johnston Press staff secure a pay rise


NUJ members in the Newsletter, Derry Journal and Mortons newspaper group have received a 2 per cent pay increase, following negotiations with management. Johnston Press, which owns all of the titles,


agreed to pay 1 per cent backdated to July 1st, 2017, and a further 1 per cent from January 1st, 2018. The proposal was overwhelmingly accepted by union members in all three chapels. Talks are now underway to update the three


separate house agreements, which are very old and give different entitlements to staff. One problem that will be addressed as part of the house agreement talks is the issue of public holiday entitlements. Meanwhile, the NUJ is concerned about heavy workloads following yet another round of


voluntary redundancies in these JP titles last year.


NUJ Irish Organiser, Ian McGuinness, praised


the FOCs and MOCs who had taken part in the talks: Philip Bradfield, Ellen Barr, Carmel Robinson, Ruth Rodgers and Brendan McDaid. “Once again it has been the chapel reps who


proved vital in the talks,” Ian said. “They were able to articulate the members’ ideas and concerns and ultimately helped win the pay raise for the NUJ.” He added: “We are intent on maintaining the


relationship we have with management and will be working hard to update the house agreements, solve the issue of public holiday entitlements and address concerns about heavy workloads.”


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