organisation


invitations to all members in the branch’s catchment area and invited activists from around the north-east, including those who had attended the Lit & Phil meetings. Around 15 braved the weather and


pledged support to reform the branch. Former Northern Echo deputy news editor Andrew Douglas was elected branch chair at the next meeting and David Roberts, a former Northern Echo father of chapel, became branch secretary. Both work in public relations. Douglas says: “It was tremendously


important to me to retain my 30-year link with the NUJ after moving from newspapers into PR and we’ve a growing number of members doing just that. “The branch has become an important


social hub for people with shared interests to get together to maintain professional standards and workplace rights and to feel you’re not alone.” Roberts says his previous NUJ role as


A lot of spadework went into helping regrow the NUJ’s Darlington branch. Nic Mitchell reports


our decades after the great strike at the Northern Echo, NUJ members are meeting once again across the


road in the Red Lion in Priestgate after the successful relaunch of the union’s Darlington branch. The similarities don’t end there. For,


as well as picking the venue used for the 1977 NUJ strike HQ, the branch is again showing the value of union solidarity across north-east England. The groundwork was laid when NUJ


activists met several times in late 2017 at the historical Lit & Phil library in Newcastle, under the auspices of national executive council member Adam Christie and northern regional organiser Chris Morley, to map a strategy to rebuild the union’s organisation in the region. Where once there had been nine branches between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Teesside, only two remained – Newcastle and the branch created from the merger of Sunderland, Shields &


8 | theJournalist


Hartlepool. That left the southern flank of the region uncovered. A spur to rebuilding the union structure came when membership secretary John Bailey of the Sunderland, Shields & Hartlepool branch reported handling new member referrals from journalists living as far away as the North Yorkshire coast and Tees Valley. His branch asks applicants to attend


at least one meeting. “But some were travelling two hours to reach Sunderland if using public transport at night. It was putting many off,” he says. So attention was focused on getting one – if not two – of the branches covering Darlington and Teesside back on their feet again. Fortunately, the chapel at the Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times was active and fighting redundancies. Full-time official Chris Morley and mother of chapel Jackie Craft picked a date in late January last year for an inaugural meeting. The NUJ’s Manchester office sent personal


Branchroots F


“ ”


At Darlington’s clock tower, left to right: David Roberts, branch secretary; Andrew Douglas, chair; and Jackie Craft, Northern Echo MoC


FoC was incredibly draining and left little scope to do new things or be proactive in finding ways the union could support its members. “Since the Darlington branch has restarted, I’ve found it’s the perfect forum to support journalists and journalism, learn new things and meet people from different backgrounds. As the Echo workforce is shrinking, we’re finding the branch is becoming much more diverse as ex-staffers take up new roles in freelancing or PR. “As well as providing mutual support


As well as providing mutual support and advice, we’re sharing new skills and best practice


and advice, we’re sharing new skills and best practice and helping overworked chapel officers in a friendly and relaxing environment. I am finding it a positive experience,” said Roberts. Meetings are open to people throughout Teesside. Jackie Craft said: “As MoC I’m often asked if members can remain in the NUJ when they leave the Echo. The branch enables journalists to stay in touch and find out about unemployed status and reduced subs while seeking work. That helps prevent them dropping out.”


Nic Mitchell is the north-east representative on the NUJ’s Public Relations & Communications Council


The Darlington-Teesside Summer Solstice meeting & social night is Friday June 21 at the Red Lion 6.45pm, before going to Number Twenty 2 on Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, at 7.30pm. Contact DavidRoberts at djrfleece@hotmail.com


CHRIS BOOTH PHOTOS


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