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news


Union fighting for a fairer deal for the forgotten freelances


THE UNION has launched a campaign - Fair Deal 4 Freelances - to fight for a better deal for self-employed journalists. The move follows the difficult situation many freelances found themselves in with the coronavirus income support schemes. Many freelance journalists - particularly those ones paid on a PAYE basis but without any guaranteed work - found that they fell between the cracks of the job support scheme and the self-employment income support scheme. The NUJ’s new campaign includes a charter of freelance rights which sets out the benefits the self-employed should enjoy. It calls for the right to organise in a trade union, to have a written contract with fair terms and conditions, prompt payment and equal treatment at work in terms of health and safety. Freelances should get holiday pay, parental leave and allowances and a retirement pension. They should have the right to resist companies forcing them on to PAYE, to incorporate as a limited company, or work under umbrella companies. During the pandemic, the NUJ, TUC and other unions have lobbied Chancellor Rishi Sunak for a more equitable support system Pamela Moreton, the NUJ’s freelance national organiser, said: “For too long the self-employed have been second-class citizens in the world of work. We’re only asking for a fair deal.”


The campaign is calling for backing from employers, employers’ organisations, politicians and individuals. The campaign also follows a report by the spending


watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO)which found that 23 per cent of those potentially eligible for coronavirus aid schemes missed out. The NAO said that the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs


(HMRC) could have done more to prevent many freelance workers falling between the cracks in the government’s schemes to support workers during the pandemic. It said that as many as 2.9 million people were not eligible, either because of ministerial decisions about where to focus support or because HMRC did not have data needed to guard against the risk of fraud. The NAO said the


Treasury and HMRC should


consider how to ensure that reliable information, covering as many people as possible, could be used to determine eligibility so fewer people are excluded from similar schemes in future. The report also noted that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was open to fraud, with some employers making staff work during furloughs or not passing on payments in full. HMRC now intends to publish the names of employers claiming the new Job Support Scheme and to notify employees through their personal tax accounts when an employer has claimed.


“ Call to report ethnicity pay gap


THE NUJ has joined the TUC in calling for mandatory publication of company ethnicity pay gap figures. The calls follow figures


being issued by the Office for National Statistics that showed Bangladeshi (£10.58 per hour) and Pakistani


(£10.55 per hour) ethnic groups had some of the widest pay gaps, earning 15.3 per cent and 15.5 per cent less respectively than white British workers (£12.49 per hour).


Natasha Morris, NUJ senior legal and equalities


officer, said: “The UK media is 94 per cent white and in TV only eight per cent of senior roles are held by BME people. “Companies must be


forced to acknowledge their own record on payment of BME workers and freelances


and made to put in train plans to eliminate the ethnicity pay gap.” Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said:


Telegraph subbing back in house


THE TELEGRAPH will bring its print subbing back in house after nearly four years of having subcontracted the work to PA. The group said the move was part of its subscription-first strategy and that it could


06 | theJournalist


best serve subscribers by centralising production. The change is due to take place


For too long the self- employed have been second-class citizens in the world of work. We’re only asking for a fair deal


Pamela Morton NUJ freelance organiser


“BME men and women are over-represented in undervalued, low-paid and casual jobs, with fewer rights and no sick pay. “Ministers must take bold action to confront inequality and racism in the labour market. “The first step is to


introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.”


early in the new year and will create jobs. Production of most pages of the Telegraph’s daily and Sunday titles moved to PA in mid-2017 and only a small team remained in the paper’s London newsroom. The company reported 524,412


subscriptions in print and digital in September.


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