NUJ general secretary John Foster
will speak at our February branch meeting on
Online journalism:
How we gain
union negotiating rights at work
Union recognition agreements
Representing individual members
Negotiating minimum pay levels
Using the new legislation to secure union recognition at work is only the beginning of the NUJ's job. Negotiating improvements to pay and conditions once we have succeeded in getting employers to talk is, after all, the real purpose of the union.
NUJ general secretary John Foster will talking about both the union's recent successes in regaining bargaining rights at a number of large companies, and about where we go from here. The aim of the meeting is to equip members with a union rights 'toolkit'.
The biggest magazine publisher to concede union recognition to date is Reed Business Publishing, where 327 staff voted 95% in favour of union bargaining rights.
John will run through the nuts and bolts of making a recognition claim, and what union officials can do to help.
We hope the meeting will be useful to representatives of workplace chapels that are still recruiting in order to press a claim for recognition, as well as to chapels that are now looking to negotiate a comprehensive house agreement on pay and conditions.
The union is also running training courses for chapel officers on how to represent members at disciplinary or grievance hearings. Staff now have the legal right to be accompanied by a union representative, irrespective of whether the employer formally recognises the union for bargaining over pay and conditions.
We will elect our delegation to the union's annual conference at this month's meeting. The conference will be held from 29 March to 1 April in Scarborough, and will set the union's policies and priorities for the year ahead.
The branch is entitled to send eight delegates. If you would like to stand, or to propose someone, please make sure you get along to the branch meeting. The delegates will report back to the branch at our 9 April meeting.
February agenda