18 AROUND THE HOUSES Success for Belfast Media Group


The newly reorganised chapel at the Belfast Media Group (Andersontown News, North Belfast News, South Belfast News) scored a big success after the company announced plans for redundancies. The company said it needed to make two


reporters, one photographer, one layout and design person, and one sports reporter redundant. Ian McGuinness, Irish Organiser; Gerry Carson, joint Cathaoirleach of the IEC; and the FOC met with management. Three staff members applied for voluntary


redundancy and NUJ urged the company to go to the LRA to avoid conflict, after the company refused the NUJ’s request to open its accounts to an agreed third party. Eventually the company


agreed to go and progress was made at the LRA, but a fourth staff member later volunteered for redundancy. At the end of the LRA meeting, the NUJ


shared with the company a unanimous statement from the chapel saying they wanted to be balloted for industrial action if the company proceeded with making anyone compulsorily redundant, and that it would vote in favour of industrial action and take it. After receiving four applications for voluntary


redundancy, the company does not intend to force the issue on the final post. There were no compulsory redundancies, one


redundancy did not proceed, and the chapel laid down a marker that it would not simply accept what management wanted it to do.


Contracts issue dominates the agenda at RTÉ


The issue of bogus self-employed contracts continues to dominate the industrial relations agenda at RTÉ. A significant measure has been reached with management on regularising the employment status of workers engaged on bogus self- employed contracts. However, RTÉ has insisted that even workers with long service are not automatically entitled to retrospective rights and will be granted contracts with a start date of 2019. Irish Secretary Séamus Dooley told the April


meeting of the IEC that retrospection is a “core principle” not just of the NUJ but of the ICTU. “If a worker has been wrongly categorised as


self-employed and forced to accept a wrong contract there is no justification for not recognising past service. Failure to recognise service has implications for pensions, for the unfair dismissals act, for rights under redundancy law and can lead to a denial of various payments. Management want to discuss retrospective right after contracts have been signed but we feel this must be sorted out as part of the initial process,” he explained. Recently an unemployed member working for


another media outlet won a landmark case against her employer who had forced her to accept a bogus contract. An investigation by the


Scope section of the Department of Social Protection revealed that she was wrongly categorized and as a result the employer faces significant penalties and a tax audit while the reporter secures retrospective payment. She decided to take the case having been denied career’s’ allowance on the basis of her [false] self-employed status.


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