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"And now for a word from our supporters ... "
During April 2002, members of the chapel staged two two-day
strikes in protest over poor pay at their newspapers.
Whether it was standing outside their own offices or
demonstrating outside the Manchester Evening News,
members showed fantastic courage and resolve.
Part of our success was down to the dozens of messages
we received from around the globe, not just from fellow
hacks but from regular readers who promised to
boycott the Guardian in protest. Those kind messages
can be seen below.
For a while it seemed like the
whole world was watching us ...
A notice has gone up outside the union shop at Leeds Metropolitan Uni
urging people to boycott the Guardian in solidarity. Keep it up and good
luck, Mark De Wolf, LMU
Dear Hugo Young and Alan Rusbridger
The Guardian is my paper - it has been for 20 years. I may disagree with
its standpoint on some issues, but it's got a range of writers and features
that are unmatchable among the daily London papers. It is left-of-centre
(not far enough, but that's life), non-conformist and dares to challenge the
status quo.
So how has my paper, or more accurately the trust that runs it, managed to
be so tight-fisted and Tory in dealing with fellow journalists, fellow NUJ
members in the north-west of England?
I understand the average wage for Guardian journalists is £40,000+, which
is good news and suggests that you do pay good wages for quality
reporting and subbing. So how can you refuse a decent pay rise for other
journalists earning a pittance? Annual wages of £10-17,500 in this day and
age is a disgrace.
If you want to appear like 19th Century mill-owners and flog the profits
out of your workers, go ahead and say so. Rupert Murdoch may be a
bastard but at least he's an honest, straightforward bastard. To dress up
your industrial relations in liberal Guardian clothing really stinks.
Please re-think. The damage being done to your reputation both locally
and more generally is only outweighed by the damage being done to
journalists who only want a fair day's pay for their work.
Like you I am an NUJ member. Like the people you employ, I worked on
local papers and was paid a pittance - not enough to raise a family. I had
to find work elsewhere to do that.
Until you do re-think, I will be one Guardian reader who will be forced to
put up with the bland greyness of your daily rivals.
Yours
Marc Jones
7 Stryt Gerallt
Wrecsam
LL11 1EH
Dear Alan
I've just read with absolute horror what Guardian Media is doing to seriously
underpaid journalists in Greater Manchester.
Come on - this is plain wrong. You are a left-of-centre paper that must practice
what it preaches. Derecognising unions is fundamentally wrong and you all know this.
I am boycotting all your products until this matter is resolved satisfactorily
in the union's favour. I will also be passing on news of what Guardian Media is doing to all
the networks on the Left that exist, nationally and internationally.
Yours in hope that you will come to your senses
Stuart Hodkinson
University of Leeds Best wishes with the action today and tomorrow. You have the full support
of my branch (NW Lancs). I'm sure your determination will be successful.
Chris Frost
NEC member
Yet again the sneering, so-called liberal-left elite are shown up as the
hypocrites they are. The more people who get to hear about this disgraceful
behaviour the better.
As for those of us boycotting the Guardian, I'm consoling myself with the fact
I have an extra £3.50 each week for beer.
I really hope your strike is a success. The Ceramic and Allied Trades Union is
right behind you!
Lawrence Shaw
NUJ member and CATU Organiser
Dear Brothers and sisters, fraternal support from Region 9 of the Fire
Brigades Union (FBU) Merseyside and Cheshire, you demands for a pay
rise are justified and long overdue. Our regional committee is due to meet
on 1st May 02, you should write to me requesting financial support, I will
place this before the committee members. We have also embarked on a
pay campaign, we understand your sense of, lack of worth and pay for the
job that you do, Yours Fraternally Mike Navarro regional sec.
Dear Friends,
Just a personal note to express my support and admiration for the stand the
GMWN chapel has taken and your continuing action in defence of your
rights and, by extension, the rights of all workers in our industry and
beyond.
My branch, Book Branch, and colleagues in the Book Sector, I know are
behind you 100%. As you may know, a London Support Group is to be setup
and I will do anything I can to help through that group.
I know you will win through. Thanks for your determination and unity,
Nick Bardsley
NEC Member, Book Sector
The Guardian has been getting dodgier by the year but I am sorry to say that I will now be boycotting it, even though the Independent is not fat enough to line the cat's dirt tray.
Paul J
Good luck with the strike. Don't give up!
Yours in solidarity
Richard
UNISON (Cambridgeshire CC)
Top marks for all NUJ membersat GMWN for a great victory for staff at Oldham and Salford. A £1,700 rise is superb and, no matter what the management try to claim, it is a direct result of the strike threat.
Management is getting flakyand panicky.Time to stand firm for rest of North division.
Best wishes,
Paul Douglas
London Freelance Branch wishes to express its full support for the
courageous stand you are taking. The Guardian Media company aim to make mega profits through the exploitation of its young, talented workforce. A decent wage for a decent days work, is a basic human right, your dispute is for all journalists in this union who are collectively standing together against poverty wages.The NUJ was created to stand up and fight for its members, and we are proud to support you in your strike to uphold that tradition. We wish you every succcess, and aim to support you in every way we can.
All the best, Molly Cooper
Secretary, NUJ London Freelance branch.
You have my whole hearted support.
Naomi Bunting
Lancs Evening Telegraph
Just to wish you all the very best of luck for your protest. It's a great thing for all journalists, including those at the start of their careers, to stand up and say no to the ridiculous, exploitative pay and conditions, and you have clearly been treated appallingly by a blinkered and short-sighted management. Maybe they don't realise how strong the NUJ can be. We're thinking of you all the way.
Sarah Warden (deputy MoC, News Shopper) Dear Comrade The Fire Brigades Union 09 Region would like to pass on our full support to your campaign. Only when workers stand up and fight do management start to listen. Good luck and best wishes from all our members and officials in Region 09. Yours fraternally Neil Thompson Regional Chair Sorry I couldn't get time off and can only join the cyber picket line but great news that you're out there and fighting today. The sooner the Guardian
management sees sense and puts its money where its liberal sentiments are,
the better.
My chapel suffered under derecognition for the best part of a decade and we
are now trying to claw back lost ground on pay, expenses and conditions, so
don't let your chapels go down that road.
It was so inspiring to hear chapel members speaking at the low pay conference in Leeds the other week -- good to see some new young fighters
coming through!
We're doing a collection for you, so please let us know what else we can do
to support your action.
The workers united...!
Yours in solidarity,
Julia Armstrong, MoC Sheffield Newspapers, sec South Yorks NUJ, member of
northern low pay cttee. Good luck in your campaign against The Guardian Group I have written to the Scott Trust and will be boycotting the MEN for their derecognition of the NUJ Andy Walsh Comrades,
Your NUJ colleagues at the Birmingham Post & Mail hope the action went well
today and that you succeed in your just fight for decent pay.
We have organised a quick whip round of the newsroom today which netted
£60.80 (some non-union people put cash in too!). The cheque is in the post
to Miles Barter today.
I can honestly say that the response from my Chapel members was very positive so I know that your fight today is theirs tomorrow.
Once again please accept our good wishes for a speedy victory (and our money as well!).
Good luck.
Chris Morley
FoC Birmingham Post & Mail Chapel Dear NUJ chapel members,
Having being in dispute with the management of the newspaper I used to work
for, I can imagine that you must all be going through a particularly stressful time at the moment.
If you've been driven to strike action, things must be very bad. I hope the strike helps to bring the Guardian group to its senses. £10,000 a year is an
appalling level of pay for people with your talents.
You have made a very brave stand against low pay in the industry. I wish you
all well with the action and every success for the future.
Tara Holmes
NUJ freelance journalist Recognition? GMG wouldn't recognise a good thing if it jumped up and bit them
in the leg.
We are outraged and discusted at the way you are being treated Good luck with your pay claim and fight to regain recognition
Mike Pike (FOC) - on behalf of the Guardian/Observer GPMU Chapel
(Just in case you are wondering, GPMU stands for God Pushed Maxwell Under,
although you may know it better as the Graphical Paper and Media Union) On behalf of The Guardian/Observer Federated Chapel down here in smokey London,
may we express our support and admiration for your stand, and our solidarity and
appreciation of our brothers and sisters north of Watford (Whoever said that the
Trade Union movement isn't International)
Yours, united in struggle,
Peter Noble (Chair), Brian Williams (NUJ rep) and the entire Federated Committee Hiya
I was at last weeks low pay conference in Leeds and I was so impressed with what I heard from your four reps, especially your determination not to get pushed around by a patronising and arrogant management. n behalf of the South London Guardian NUJ chapel, I wish you all the luck in the world with your action and I hope you achieve your aims. To derecognise the chapel is an evil and desperate measure which deserves nothing but contempt and decisive action in response. I was appalled to hear about the trainee salaries some of you are earning. I really hope the company see sense and give you your 7.5 per cent claim.
Weve got a chapel meeting tomorrow and well hopefully have a decent whip round for your fund.
Best of luck,
Mithran Samuel As a fellow NUJ member I wish you every success in your struggle. It is appalling that owners with left-wing sympathies can treat you in such a fashion. What example is that to other managements? Mike Dear brothers and sisters Congratulations to your chapel on day one of strike action. I had a breathless account from Miles. I was thrilled to hear that you had recruited new comrades on the picket line itself at Middleton - that is so brilliant. You've done a great job so far, keep it up, you're inspiring the whole union. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of you festooned with balloons and wearing NUJ placards as sandwich boards - like your style. Keep smiling Sarah Dear Mr. Rusbriger I understand that you are a trustee of the Scott Trust, owners of Guardian Media. It is in your capacity as a trustee that I am writing to express my solidarity with the striking members of the NUJ who are employed by Guardian Media. Although I live In Belgium I read the Guardian everyday. I am appalled to read that an organisation in which you have an important influence is involved in the bullying of members of a trade union. I understand further that Guardian Media have also de-recognised an NUJ chapel. In order to show my solidarity with the strikers, I shall refuse to purchase the Guardian on strike days. Finally, do you realise that the Telegraph and the other broadsheets are going to have a great time poking fun at the Guardian. Yours sincerely Peter McEwan Hello friends
brilliant stuff well done
to my knowledge (119 years of union membership) this is the first time an
M/FoC of a national paper chapel has been to the picket line of colleagues
on weekly papers in the same group, so that's some achievement.
You're the lead on the union website. Take a look at www.nuj.org.uk
<http://www.nuj.org.uk>
and let me know if
a. you want any change to the story
b. anything else you'd like up -- a page of support messages perhaps -- if
you could edit and email to me- how about a personal story - a member writing of the struggle to survive and
what they think about the treatment of young journalists.
Please keep in touch
Tim Gopsill All the best with your dipute over pay, I hope you stick with it and get what you asked for.
Jim Diffley (Shop Steward)
On behalf of the AEEU at Yorkshire Telivision
Hello colleagues... Congratulations on the success of your strike action this week. It was great to see you all on the picket line and in such good spirits. Hope next week goes even better! All the best, Kath Grant (Manchester branch)
As alongstanding reader and subscriber to The Guardian, I am shocked to hear of the treatment of journalists by Guardian Media
in the Manchester area. As Guardian Media is owned by the Scott Trust and you are one of the Trustees can you explain this and the
decision to to derecognise the NUJ?
If this dispute is not settled with the full agreement of a re-instated Union, I and several more of my colleagues in NATFHE will boycott
your paper.
Les Garner
NATFHE
University of Greenwich As a good friend of one of the young reporters on the Rossendale Free Press (Hi. Laura!), I have seen from the coal face, just how badly paid
these dedicated people are. With most of them having to live at home or renting a room in a house, is this any way of living for young, and
qualified, professionals? No.. No it is not. Although not a fan of the Guardian at the best of times, I think it is frankly insulting they way
they have dealt with their staff.. Let's hope you can make this change.
Yours in support
Ben Brandwood
Congratulations, Miles and NUJ members at the GMWN for fighting the low pay
battle. The NUJ Scottish Executive Council are right behind you and maybe looking
for similar support soon.
We are currently ballotting the membership at Johnston Newspapers in
Scotland over a pay offer which averages 2%.
It was rejected unanimously at a mass meeting and the group chapel are
seeking a mandate for strike action to force a better deal. Senior salaries
average £20K and trainees start around £10.5K so we know how you feel.
PAUL HOLLERAN
SCOTTISH ORGANISER
I would like to pass on a message of solidarity on behalf of Councillor Paul Malliband and Preston Socialist Party. We fully support your right (and the right of all workers) to take strike action for a decent living wage. We hope the strike is successful, and if there is anything we can do to help, please do not hesitate to contact us at: Fraternally, Michael Calderbank, Preston Socialist Party Dear all at Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers,
On behalf of the Express and Star Chapel, I wanted to wish you well in your
pay dispute and offer our wholehearted support and backing for your current
strike action. Our chapel committee will be meeting next week, and I'm sure
we will agree to send a cheque towards your strike fund. So expect one in
the post next week, along with our good wishes.
I'm also the NEC member for newspapers and agencies, so with that hat on
please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. We discussed plans
to leaflet / demonstrate outside the Guardian in London next week, at an NEC
mtg today, so if that goes ahead I'll certainly be there. I also hope the
Guardian and Observer chapels do all they can to support your action.
We're all rooting for you, so best of luck.
Michelle Stanistreet (020 7922 7313 / 07881 628043)
Express and Star Chapel Good luck wit your efforts...
Judith Coyle - feelance Good luck, strikers! I am amazed your flagships, the politically correct Guardian and Observer, so keen to castigate others, show no concern for your plight. Why don't you write to Adrian Chiles at TV's Working Lunch about the difficulties of paying off student debts on such a wage? The graduate wages he quoted were far above your earnings!
Good luck in your fight for a fair deal. I have written to the editors of both the Observer and the Guardian to tell them I will be boycotting the papers until you win your dispute. Best wishes Sarah Pritchard NASUWT member Dudley West Midlands
Dear Alan and Hugo
I am writing to you in your role as a member of the Scott Trust.
As a regular reader of the Guardian I wish to express my shock at the
decision of Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) to de-recognise the
National Union of Journalists.
This was done on the day the workers on those papers voted 100 percent in
favour of strike action in a ballot about low pay. The Guardian regularly
criticises bad employers, and yet one of your sister companies is behaving
with all the subtlety of a Victorian mill owner.
I am not surprised that journalists voted for strike action as they are paid
between £10,000 and £17,000 when the average wage of a non-manual worker is
- according to government figures - in excess of £24,000.
A trainee manager at McDonalds starts on £17,000.
Does the Scott Trust think that its experienced journalists are worth so
much less than the average worker?
I hope you will use your influence to ensure that the decision of regional
human resources director Tom Peak to de-recognise the NUJ is reversed, and
to persuade the management of Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers to pay
their employees a living wage.
Unless this is resolved I will be forced to boycott the Guardian on the days
when these NUJ members are on strike.
Yours sincerely
Robert Rae
2 Abernethy Place
Newton Mearns
G77 5UD Well done in your efforts to get a decent wage. Here in Paris, working for
Tony Elliot (worth 18 million at the last count), trainee journalists earn about £9,000 gross and a production editor with 12 years experience £18,000.
Health care is not covered and we got a 0 per cent pay rise this year, despite the fact that the euro has sent prices rocketing. Well done you lot!
If you need a fundraising gig, and I can help, I will..
Cheers
Attila The Stockbroker Dear Brothers and Sisters
I would like to send you a message of support in you campaign for a decent wage. You strike action is part of a growing desire to deal with the endemic low pay that plagues this country, while we have a Prime Minister, who has no problem that the gap between rich and poor gets bigger.
The Guardian Newspaper has prided its self on being left of centre. I believe its should put it's money where it's mouth is, and practice what it preaches. If they need a swift kick up the bum to bring them to their senses I 'm sure that your industrial action is the way to do it.
Yours fraternally
Dr Kay Phillips
Socialist Alliance candidate Harpurhey Ward/North manchester
Dear NUJ colleagues at GM titles.
Good luck with your industrial action. Poverty pay for journalists is a
disgrace in the 21st century.
You are part of a much bigger movement that's saying, in newsrooms
everywhere, the unions are back and we're not taking no for an answer.
In solidarity
Paul Mason
Business Correspondent
BBC Newsnight
(in a personal capacity)
Dear colleagues
While I am sad to hear of the appalling treatment you're having at the hands of the management at Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers, I am encouraged by the manner in which NUJ members are carrying out their proper demands against low pay and now derecognition.
You will all be aware of the recent successes NUJ chapels at other newspapers have achieved, and I am sure that you will win through as well.
I would be delighted to give whatever support I can, including being on a picket line, if talks fail to achieve a just settlement.
I send you best wishes for a successful outcome. Please let me know if there is anything further I can do at this stage.
Regards
John Barsby
NUJ President
Dear colleagues in Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) chapel
This is just to wish you all the best with your strike actions to improve your lousy pay rates and now, I understand, to get the union re-recognised.
I'm sure proposals for supporting messages and money will be put to London Freelance Branch on Monday week unless Guardian Media do a Wakefield and collapse before then, but maybe thats over-optimistic in this case. What were these people thinking of, derecognising you? Its a disgrace to the whole company and they've got to reverse it.
Fraternally
Phil Sutcliffe (chair, LFB)
Comrades
Can I pass on Region 09 Merseyside & Cheshire FBU best wishes in your strike? I will place the financial request on the agenda at our next regional committee meeting.
Fraternal Greetings from
Neil Thompson
Reg Chair
Hi to all our colleagues in Greater Manchester
Congratulations to you all for taking such decisive action in the face of attacks by your management.
I'm sure every member of the union is appalled at the hypocrisy of the Guardian Media Group in using the kind of tactics its flagship newspapers would denigrate in its pages.
I shall be calling on our chapel to make a donation to your strike fund.
Don't forget there's the low-pay conference in Leeds on 6 April. I think it would be very useful if you could get some representatives over there, as well as being a useful source of funds.
I'll also urge a nationwide boycott of Guardian Media Group's national titles while the dispute is on. They are the 'house journals' of most right-thinking trade unionists and I think pressure should be brought to bear on them.
Keep up the fight. Remember, you're not alone.
Bob Smith
Joint FoC
Newsquest Bradford Chapel
NUJ
Once more I find myself writing to express my strong support for striking British NUJ members. It seems that the British media companies, much like their American counterparts, are intent upon denigrating the skills, driving down the wages and threatening the job security of professionals who certainly perform valuable social work and who society depends upon. This does little credit to either the British or American companies and one has only to look at the terrible press we have here in the US as an example of what happens when the media industry tramples on its best assets--the professional workers. We end up with an advertiser-driven media in which serious journalism takes a back seat to other concerns and in which reporters are prized less for their knowledge, skills and abilities and more for cutting corners and creating hype.
I urge you to come to terms with the NUJ and to set a positive example for your British and American colleagues.
I write as an editor and as a writer.
Bob Rossi
PO Box 2766
Salem, OR.
97308
USA
Dear comrades & friends
I am writing to wish you every success with your action against de-recognition of the NUJ.
It is appalling that in the time of a Labour government the establishment are becoming more Thatcherite than Thatcher!
I have written to Hugo Young as you requested and I will spread the issue around as much as possible.
Yours in solidarity
Don't let the bastards spoil your Easter - Chocolate forever!
Mary Pearson
Birmingham NUT and B'Ham Trades Union Council
To all the journalists on strike,
Best of luck with your campaign for better pay. As so effectively pointed out by Miles Barter with the comparisons with the likes of McDonalds managers, journalism has become pitifully badly paid. Your brave fight for better pay deserves to succeed and will benefit all of us, freelancers like myself included.
Very best of luck
David Conn
Solidarity greetings to members at Guardian Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) from the Independents NUJ chapel. We are inspired to hear about your fight against low pay and derecognition and send our full support for the strikes you are about to embark on. NUJ members here at the Independent and Independent on Sunday may be voting on strike action against a pay freeze in the near future, too. We'll keep you updated.
At a recent chapel meeting we agreed to send a donation of £284.25 (£200 from our chapel account, plus £44.25 returned to us from the strike fund by Bradford Newsquest chapel and a further £40 whip-round) to the next chapel out on strike. At the time that was due to be members at the Yorkshire Weekly Newspaper Group, but they won without even having to take action. We hope that the resolve members at GMWN are showing results in a swift and positive conclusion in your favour, too. The cheque's in the post.
In solidarity
Kate Simon
MoC
Independents NUJ Chapel
To all at the Rochdale Observer, Asian News, Middleton Guardian, Heywood Advertiser, Rossendale Free Press, Accrington Observer, Oldham Advertiser, and Salford Advertiser - good luck with your action. It's a bit far for us to join your picket lines but your colleagues in Ireland are with you in spirit.
I have circulated your appeal to all the members in Ireland for whom we have emails.
Ronan Quinlan
NEC, Ireland
I'm a sub at the Evening Gazette on Middlesbrough. Just want to let you know that I have written to Hugo Young, as the NUJ email letter advised, about your chapel being de-recognised. I've attached a copy of my letter. I'm so upset about this, being a longtime Guardian reader, and you all have my support and best wishes.
Cheers,
Gloria McShane
I'd like to offer you my support - good luck in your struggle for fair treatment in the workplace and your battle against exploitation.
I work for The Independent, where morale is at an all time low and the management is ruthlessly exploiting its workforce.
I have never been on strike in my life and never been a union member before - then I started working at The Indy and have since joined the NUJ.
The out of touch, self-serving management of major newspapers need to be brought into touch with the reality as it exists for their loyal hard-working staff who find all their best endeavours unappreciated.
Good luck
Solidarity Greetings
Please accept the solidarity of the members of
the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
(Printing Division) in your struggle.
The following is the email I sent off to the
chair of Scott Trust in support
Best Wishes
Steve Walsh
Federal Secretary
AMWU (Print)
3/440 Elizabeth St
Melbourne
Vic, Aust 3000
---- Forwarded message follows-----
To: h.young@guardian.co.uk
So much for the world wide fight against terrorism, it seems that when workers attempt to bargain the immediate reaction is to wage a war of terrorism against their Union.
I would urge you to use your influence and reverse this decision
Steve Walsh
Federal Secretary
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
(Printing Division)
Dear colleagues
You're welcome to our support. We in Bradford know how important it is to know you have the backing of decent people throughout the world in fighting attacks on basic rights.
I'm glad you've been able to use my message on your website. Please let us know if there's anything else we can do. I've informed as many people as I can about the dispute and shall continue to do so.
Bob Smith
Joint FoC
Newsquest Bradford Chapel
National Union of Journalists
I just posted web pages on your dispute to the
London Freelance Branch site.
Remind me if I don't send you the scan of the
bag of halal fries I'll be faxing to Hugo Young.
If he will condone paying McWages, he's going to have to put up with McHumor(TM)
Mike
I have been contacted by Bob Smith at the T&A (Bradford) NUJ re your dispute with Guardian newspapers about pay and the withdrawl of recognition of bargaining rights from your union. I would like to offer my good wishes and support in this and let you know that as a regular Guardian reader I am very
disappointed by the newspaper's stance - and am e-mailing them with my comments. I hope this can be settled as quickly as possible - boycott of the Guardian is not something I relish doing, given the lack of choice elsewhere of my daily newspaper but would certainly consider it if the response from
the group is to maintain their stance.
Yours
Cllr David Ford, Green Party spokesman, Bradford Council
(to Hugo Young & Guardian letters page)
Dear Sir,
As a regular Guardian reader and Trade Unionist, I was concerned to hear of the de-recognition of the NUJ by Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (Northern). The e-mail I have recieved tells me that "they will no longer recognise their union for bargaining, despite the majority of journalists belonging to the NUJ. Our colleagues have voted to strike for six days".
If this is the case, I would certainly support their action and reconsider my choice of daily newspaper in future.
With Respect
Richard Rippin
UNISON (Cambridgeshire)
Dear colleagues,
I am writing to you to offer our support in your dispute with Greater Manchester Newspapers. Finally, journalists are fighting back in their
struggle against poor pay and poor working conditions. Your chapel is an inspiration to all others who just need that little bit of encouragment to take on the skinflint bosses. Please contact me if you need any
practical support or a whipround over the next few weeks,
Neil Sterio,
secretary,
York Branch NUJ
Colleagues,
I have of course been following this dispute with great interest. Not for the first time the Guardian Media Group has let its liberal mask slip and has revealed it is just as bad as some of the worst union busting employers. The attempt to derecognise us is an outrage and the chapel is right to stand up to a management that appears not to care that professionals are being paid a good deal less than burger flippers (with all due respect to that noble trade). As someone who has done shifts at GMWN publications and as a fairly regular freelance contributor, I shall certainly be supporting the strikes and I will urge other freelancers to do likewise.
Yours fraternally,
Dave Toomer
North West NEC member
Dear Friends
We have just learnt that The Guardian Media Corp. has refused a decent pay for your members. Like other trade unions, we believe that NUJ is the true representative of the journalists at Greater Manchester Weekly and has every right to represent and demand better pay and working conditions for its members.
The refusal of the firm to recognise NUJ as the represantaive of the journalists clearly is a hypocracy of Guardian Media Corp that claims to adhere to liberal and democratic principles.
We, The Socialist-Truth in Cyprus, fully support your strike for better pay that is a one of the basic principles of human rights -to live a decent life and will do whatever necessary to win this struggle against the employers.
Best Greetings
Socialist Truth in Cyprus-London Bueraux
2/04/02
I was horrified to read of your employers' behaviour. I hope that your
local Councillors and MP's are there batting for you.
Kindest Regards,
Cllr. Lynne Joyce
Keighley South
Fraternal greetings from the Rotherham Advertiser NUJ Chapel...
It's makes all the difference to know that you are being exploited and denied union rights by a really liberal management!
While the rest of us have to put up with some real b......s
Congratulations on your magnificent stand...a collection is in hand. Hope to see as many of you as possible at the National Pay Campiagn Meeting this Saturday, April 6, 12-4 at Leeds Town Hall.
Solidarity,
Phil Turner, FoC
It is sickening that a media group with a veneer of decency should stoop to the '80s union-busting tactics of the Murdoch group and Associated Newspapers. The difference between now and then is that -- whisper it -- this time the bosses are going to lose.
YOU are the low pay campaign, not fine words or leaflets from NUJ officials. We need to begin to take our fair share from the media bosses and you are showing the rest of the union the way forward. The Book Branch of the NUJ will be sending you a donation to your strike fund in the next post.
I am copying this to Hugo Young, chair of the Scott Trust. He must know that the fine liberal papers controlled by the trust are financially dependent on the work of your members. I believe that he has the decency to bring pressure to bear on GMWN's rogue managers to end this shameful derecognition and to provide pay for GMWN staff at least as good as staff in McDonalds.
Yours sincerely
Paul Hardy
Secretary, NUJ Book Branch
Hi! This is to send you the support and best wishes of the NUJ Guardian chapel in London. We will be writing to all the relevant Scott Trust members and GMG directors expressing our disgust at the derecognition of your chapel and our support for you. There is a cheque in the post (promise) of £250 for your strike fund. I was wondering if you would like any of us to come and join you on your picket line if the strike goes ahead? Who knows, you may already have won by then. Anway let us know if you think that would be a good idea.
Best wishes, good luck and good courage
Helen Oldfield MoC
PS Gary always quotes the old ANC slogan in this kind of circumstance: Victory Is Certain (we just don't know when)
Dear badlypaid
I got a reply from Hugo young probably youve had it a dozen times already, but its pasted in below followed by my further response to him
All the best.
Fraternally
Phil Sutcliffe (LFB)
Hugo Young wrote:
Thank you for your message prompted by the dispute between Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers and journalists on some of GMG's weekly papers.
It has always been the practice of the Scott Trust to avoid interference in management decisions. Long experience has shown that this is the policy best suited to running a successful business, from everyone's point of view. We're not going to change that now. But I have personally kept in touch with the problems in Manchester, and established that the situation is less simple than you describe. I'd like to make two points.
First, GMWN has always had constructive relations with the NUJ, and has every desire to see that continue, as one would expect. But this is bound to be conditional on observance of the house agreement, by both sides to it. Second, the earnings of our journalists on the Lancashire weeklies seem to be at least in line with those of similar journalists in the region.
I have to repeat, though, that the Trust sees no reason to abandon its policy of non-intervention with managerial decisions in the businesses we own.
Yours sincerely
Hugo Young
Chairman, the Scott Trust
Dear Hugo Young
I appreciate the Trusts position with regard to management decisions but only up to a point, and derecognition surely ought to be beyond that point. I wouldnt have written to you about the pay dispute per se. That is clearly a matter of
negotiation, which in the ordinary way of business, would produce an outcome more or less equally good and bad for both sides. But derecognition declares an end to negotiation. It says that the talking must stop. Strikes dont do that, and they are the most extreme action available to trade unions. Derecognition is probably immoral, certainly uncivilised and in
contravention of a human right. Surely, it is not an action that any part of the Guardian business or the Scott Trust should be associated with and is an issue on a higher level of principle than the daily to and fro of management decisions.
Again, I would urge the Trust to show it stands up for basic decent principles and practice in the company and use its influence to help get this derecognition reversed.
Yours sincerely
Phil Sutcliffe
Central London branch sends best wishes and full support to you all in your current dispute. Success in your fight to raise insultingly low pay levels is made even more important now the GMG has attacked the union by announcing derecognition. When even traditionally hostile employers like EMAP and the Express Group are signing deals with the NUJ, it is astonishing that the supposedly progressive GMG has made a move more in keeping with the darkest days of 80s union-busting. We will be doing all we can to alert our members and the wider public to the GMG's hypocritical stance.
We'll also get some financial support to you, so keep an eye on your post in the next few days.
fraternally
Martin Cloake
Chair
Central London
To whom it may concern,
I totally agree with your decision to strike over bad pay in journalism. I completed a degree in journalism but decided not to go into the trade due to the poor salary you receive.
Only this morning on the news they announced that house prices were still on the increase, with the average house now going for £97k. How on earth is someone supposed to afford to house themselves on a pittance of £10.5k a year - it's outrageous. Journalists
work long hours which are often unsociable, just to provide a much needed service to the public. It is about time they were recognised and rewarded for their efforts.
I fully support your decision to strike and hope that you get the result you deserve.
Katrina Hartigan
Just to let you know I've written to Hugo the hypocrite. I always suspected the Guardian's 'liberalism' was just a marketing ploy anyway.
Good luck with the action.
Barry McLoughlin,
NW Lancs Branch
Brothers@Sisters,
Good luck in your struggle with Guardian Media etc., I sent the email below to Hugo Young
All the Best,
Mick Hall
Dear Mr Young,
I have been a supporter and reader of the Guardian for thirty five years and I never imagined that I would ever have to write such a letter as this
To put it bluntly, the wages that you are paying some of your provincial journalists, can only be described as downright mean. I can well understand why they are in dispute with you. I understand that Guardian Media's last after tax profits where in the region of £12.4 million, if so sir, do the decent thing, and lets have no more of this nonsense about not recognising the NUJ chapel, we can leave that sort of behaviour to that swine Murdock.
Yours sincerely,
Mick Hall
Grays
Essex
My reply:
Dear Hugo
Thanks for replying to my email. For that I'm grateful.
Disingenuousness and circumlocution are regrettable modern traits which I hoped you might have avoided.
You may well be right in saying journalists on the Lancashire papers are paid in line with other regional journalists and that is the true scandal.
Come to the NUJ low-pay conference at Leeds Town Hall this Saturday and listen to why it's time graduates working in local journalism are worth more than the poverty wages most publishing groups pay.
It's a fine-sounding principle to leave businesses to run themselves, but when the supply of newsroom fodder dries up, I think it will be seen to have been less than best suited to all parties.
There's a deeper democratic and social reason for keeping a vibrant press, both at local and national levels. Perhaps the Scott Trust should be keeping a closer eye on that aspect.
Thanks for reading this.
Bob Smith
Joint FoC
Newsquest Bradford Chapel
NUJ
PS If you need instructions to get to the Saturday conference, give me a ring. Don't use the train. The drivers are on strike!
Colleagues, Comrades, Sisters and Brothers,
On behalf of the Netherlands NUJ branch we are fully behind you all with your six days of strike action over low-pay and union recognition.
Sorry we can't be on the picket line with you but all success to you all and for a just outcome meeting your demands.
A cheque to help your fighting fund has been sent.
fraternal greetings,
Guy Thornton
Chairholder, Netherlands NUJ branch
Dear Hugo
Thank you for your reply. Can I ask you three further questions?
Does the Scott Trust agree with the derecognition of the NUJ at Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North)?
Notwithstanding the fact that all newspaper owners pay appalling wages does the Scott Trust think it is right to pay graduate journalism trainees £12,000pa when the
average starting salary for graduates is more than £17,000?
As the Scott Trust is supposed to promote liberal values shouldn't you be ensuring your papers pay a fair and equitable wage?
Thank you for your time.
I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely
Miles Barter
Manchester
Hiya,
Just to let you know that the Birmingham Post & Mail Chapel fully support your stand on low pay and derecognition.
We send our best wishes to your Chapel for the forthcoming action and hope it brings the management belatedly round to their senses.
Nobody likes going on strike but you undoubtedly have a just cause which needs sticking out for.
Once again good luck with the dispute and we look forward to hearing of a successful conclusion.
Yours in solidarity,
Chris Morley
FoC
B'ham Post & Mail
Hi
Just been given some information about the situation you face. I am horrified that probably the only newspaper in the UK that I thought had principles, actually doesn't give a damn about its employees, the people who put themselves on the line to report similar abuses at other organisations.
The lack of recognition of the NUJ is appalling. Keep the faith and I hope that your strike is able to provoke necessary change in such fascistic
attitudes.
In solidarity,
Sid Sheehan
HIV Care Worker
Terrence Higgins Trust Midlands
10 Manor Road
Coventry
CV1 2LH
paul.sheehan@thtmidlands.org.uk
Direct dial: 024 7660 7402
Hi All
I'd just like to offer my support and solidarity to your struggle, and wish you all the best for the future. Every strike that is successful is a victory for us all.
Solidarity Greetings,
Phil Hamilton
CPGB and T&G Shop Steward (Personal Capacity)
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Manchester branch of the Socialist Party to express our solidarity and support for your strike actions in the coming weeks.
The Socialist party produces a weekly national paper,"The Socialist", and we would like to ask whether you could send us a statement of yours that we can publish in it. If you want to send us an appeal for support we would also be happy to print it in our paper.
We also run stalls every week in the City Centre and in Withington. If you have any material you want us to put on our stalls, feel free to mail back.
We will also try and visit some of your picket lines.
If there is anything you think we could so to support your struggle, again, just mail me back.
My e-mail is: chbunke@hotmail.com
In solidarity,
Christian Bunke
Socialist Party (Manchester branch)
Just a message of support to you all.
We'll do what we can among our group of friends to try to get you some positive publicity.
Good luck - and don't give up!
Gwen
Dear Hugo
I am writing to you in your capacity as chair of the Scott Trust.
I have read the Guardian almost every single day for the past 23 years. One of the major reasons for this "brand loyalty" is your positive coverage of employee relations. So I am saddened to learn that one of your sister companies is behaving with all the subtlety of Burger King. I wish to express my shock at the decision of Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) to de-recognise the National Union of Journalists.
This was done on the day the workers on those papers voted 100 percent in favour of strike action in a ballot about low pay. .
I am not surprised that journalists voted for strike action as they are paid between £10,000 and £17,000 when the average wage of a non-manual worker is over £24,000.
A trainee manager at McDonalds starts on £17,000.
Does the Scott Trust think that its experienced journalists are worth so much less than the average worker?
I hope you will use your influence to ensure that the decision of regional human resources director Tom Peak to de-recognise the NUJ is reversed, and to persuade the management of Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers to pay their employees a living wage.
Unless this is resolved I will be forced to boycott the Guardian on the days when these NUJ members are on strike.
Yours sincerely
Rosalind Hardie Ejiohuo
rosalind@ejiohuo.fslife.co.uk
Dear colleagues
I was inspired and heartened by your speech at the Low Pay Campaign meeting in Leeds this weekend.
In the past I have heard so many young journalists say they don't think it is worth fighting for better pay in local newspapers, either because they think the battle is too huge to win, or because they believe they will soon be moving on to 'bigger and better things.
Thankfully those attitudes are beginning to change, and you should be proud you are at the forefront of a new wave of journalists fighting back.
Good luck for Tuesday - I am hoping to join you on the picket line on Wednesday.
Paula Dear
Freelance journalist,former MoC at South London
Guardian
Many of us have been astonished by the appallingly low level of wages metered out to journalists. As a Councillor, I realise only too well the importance given by 99% of the population to the quality reportage of events. In a democracy, it is the main armoury against corrupt or misleading propaganda. It is a great pity that big business interests control so much of the press now, however, it is the standard of journalism that prevents the influence of press barons getting completely out of hand. It says a lot for the integrity of the professional journalist.
We need good quality reporters. Poor pay is likely to lead to the recruitment of those who do the master's bidding. Incredibly, we do not appear to have suffered that fate to date. If pay is further eroded, as would happen given the current pay offer to journalists, we seem set to lose the war against fair reporting - it would only be a matter of time - an inevitable consequence surely?
Gagging or limiting the freedom of the press is a tragedy worth fighting against. Left too late, the battle would be futile; it would take years to set things right in the future. We have to value our reporters for the quality of the general media. Society needs them. How else can we ensure a sterling defence of the truth?
We should give reporters the pay they deserve and recognise the extremely valuable service they give to our nation. If we lose that quality through poor pay and conditions we shall not only be very much the poorer for it, we shall be fodder to the propagandists of whatever persuasion who rule the day.
May you be hugely successful in your fight for better pay and conditions.
Councillor Peter Evans [Rochdale MBC - Littleborough Ward]
01706 377101
Comrades and colleagues,
Having met some of you at the low pay meeting on Saturday (April 6), I would like to add my support for your action. I know you're all geared up and looking forward to getting out and winning your fight - which we all know you will.
It is a fantastic thing you're doing and will surely serve to harden feelings in newsrooms everywhere that we will NOT take this any longer.
Good luck to everybody for next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Richard Simcox
News Shopper chapel (a Newquest South London weekly)
Hi
Please pass on my support to NUJ members at the Accrington Observer and Rossendale Free Press in their dispute with the Guardian Media Group. I will happily boycott the Guardian on those days!!
Best wishes,
Greg Pope MP
Dear Mr Young,
I am writing to you on behalf of local journalists working for the Greater Manchester Newspaper Group which is, I understand, owned by the Guardian.
I was trained as a reporter and feature writer on a local newspaper in the late sixties when it was a reasonably well paid job. Over years I have seen the pay rates eroded and working conditions worsen.
I have no personal interest in this - for the past 17 years I have been a County Councillor and I am now the Leader of Lancashire County Council.
In this role I do meet members of the local press and see at first hand the demands of their work.
It Is because I support the press and believe in the need for local, as well as national, papers that I am asking for your support for your colleagues who are working at the grassroots of your profession.
Yours sincerely,
Hazel Harding
Leader of Lancashire County Council
Hello to all our Greater Manchester colleagues
It was good to see all of you in Leeds at the weekend. I hope you manage to blow up the balloons OK. Apparently there were various technical hitches when the Bradford contingent blew up their balloons. I have to stress this
problem didn't appear on my picket line at Keighley, but I've been asked to point this out. If you fill the balloons with helium, THEY FLOAT UPWARDS! It seems our former president Rory inadvertently dispatched several score of
them skywards at Bradford.
Good luck with your campaign. You know you have lots of support. We're all rooting for you. Hope the low-pay conference was useful.
Bob Smith
Joint FoC
Newsquest Bradford Chapel
Hi,
just to let you know that London Freelance Branch voted on Monday night to donate £450 to your strike fund, and a message of support will follow
shortly. Enough to say the branch is totally behind you, and would like to invite a speaker along to our next meeting on the 13th May.
Cheers,
Molly Cooper, NUJ London Freelance branch
I have today cancelled my standing order with my newsagent for the Rochdale Observer and the Manchester Evening News in protest at the disgusting action of the Guardian Group in derecognising the National Union of Journalists branch representing members on the Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) titles.
These, mainly young, journalists are working harder than ever with shrinking staffing levels and constantly growing demands from their employers. The laws of natural justice demand that they are rewarded in a suitable fashion.
I was a senior journalist on a national Sunday newspaper before my retirement and weep at what has been done to my beloved profession by the unprincipled chase for increased profits. What managements fail to realise is that their most valuable commodity is the staff who through their dedication and professionalism produce the product which provides the balance-sheet profits.
So play fair - at least talk to the journalists through their democratically-elected representatives. An honest and principled employer has nothing to fear from the National Union of Journalists and its members.
You do your part and I will do mine - by reordering my regular copies of your local newspapers.
Yours sincerely,
Bryan Scott
Good luck with your entirely justified action. It is hard to believe that journalists in the UK are still having to fight against such basic issues as low pay and union recognition.
CHARLES LAMBERT
Freelance
ex- FoC BBC Manchester
You can preview the Freelance's coverage of your dispute at www.londonfreelance.org ...
As I hope you know, some people are going to try to see Rusbridger on Tuesday - though several of the LFB hacks (which makes us hack-squared?) will be at Freelance Industrial Council.
Some at least will be trying to take him some fries.
If you want larger version of that image, let me know.
Mike
Hi, this is a further e-mail from London Freelance Branch,
Just to let you know that we are going ahead with our leafleting and demonstration outside The Guardian on the first day of your strike action.
We will be outside The Guardian from 12-2pm. We will give out the leaflets that Dave Toomer has drawn up. So if you have any contacts in London, could you let them know about the protest outside The Guardian?
Add your voice: badlypaid@hotmail.com. |
