organising


James Garrett charts a new course for members in the south west


Dawn of the super-branch


D


uring my 43 years in the NUJ, I have been a member of five branches.


Three of them – East


Suffolk, Herefordshire and Geneva – disappeared long ago. As employment levels in local newspapers and commercial local radio dwindled, it became harder to organise union activity on a local basis. Bristol branch, my home for the past


37 years, disappeared in May, along with those covering Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and the Channel Islands. They have been replaced by a


super-branch, embracing almost 1,200 members based across the south west. The NUJ’s national executive council


(NEC) has agreed to trial this merger for 12 months in a bid to revitalise union activity across England’s largest administrative region. Tim Lezard, NEC rep for the area for


20 years, says: “The new branch has the potential to bring the region’s journalistic community together, empowering members all across the south west.” Lezard, who stepped down at this


year’s delegate meeting (DM), added: “Paving the way for members in previously moribund branches to meet with more experienced activists broadens the political and professional discourse and strengthens the NUJ’s voice.”


In 2020, the Bristol branch did me the honour of putting me up for life membership. After the nomination was approved, my colleagues insisted, in light of my observation that Bristol was the only one of my branches to survive, that I do nothing to threaten its existence.


24 | theJournalist So it is with some trepidation


that I have embarked on trying to make the new south-west England branch work. Yes, it’s a gamble but it’s one I’m convinced is worth trying. When I was elected chair of the


Bristol branch in 2022, more than 30 years after relinquishing the position on becoming an editor at ITV, I found we were being assigned almost all new applicants for membership from the south west, wherever they lived. New recruits to the


Bristol branch came from Gloucester and Truro – cities some 200 miles apart. They were no less welcome than members living in and around Bristol, but the branch recognised that supporting them would not be straightforward. Lezard and Paul Breeden, his successor as NEC regional rep after this year’s DM, polled members on how they would like to be organised. The turnout, it should be acknowledged, was far from overwhelming but those who replied expressed a clear interest in belonging to a larger unit. The merger began with an inaugural meeting on May 15. The second, on June 13, was fairly buzzing with colleagues discussing what they wanted out of the new organisation. Matthew Hill, father of chapel at


Bristol-based BBC West, said: “It’s a very promising prospect. It will enable more joined-up decision-making and opportunities to share ideas.” He added: “It will also better serve our current dispute over the cuts to local radio – with the ability to support


weaker BBC chapels in


recruitment and campaigns.” Hill’s comments were timely;


much of the meeting was spent reflecting on the 48-hour strike in the previous week by BBC local radio staff over their managers’ plans to slash output and make 139 people redundant. Branch members were thanked for joining BBC colleagues on their picket lines, while the latter could personally thank journalists from other media for reporting on their stoppage. These included Priyanka Raval,


whose application to join the NUJ was approved at the meeting a week after she had reported on the strike for The Bristol Cable, an investigative online news service. Priyanka said: “I joined the NUJ because reporting on industrial action while not being part of the union myself felt inexcusable. “I’m passionate about platforming a diverse range of voices and making journalism more accessible. I hope the NUJ will provide the network and


support to fight for greater


“


representation in the media.” Key to the success of the new


New recruits came from cities some 200 miles apart. The branch recognised that supporting them would not be straightforward


branch will be representatives of the region’s constituent counties. Fiona O’Cleirigh, a freelance who formerly chaired London Freelance Branch and sat on the NEC, will represent colleagues in Cornwall. Richard Shrubb, a broadcast


journalism graduate from Falmouth University and specialist in social and healthcare journalism from Portland, is the rep for Dorset. Others are being recruited.


Plans are afoot for social events around the region, bringing together members from different sectors and workplaces. They will include one in Gloucester for Lezard, who at DM was awarded the NUJ’s gold badge, to reflect decades of work as an activist at chapel, branch, regional and national level. If you would like to become a rep or


have ideas about how to make the branch effective across such a large region, I’d love to hear from you. Please contact james.g.garrett@btinternet.com.


FOXYSGRAPHIC / ALAMY STOCK VECTOR


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