Delegates sector action But it is not the media question of editorial content.
The NUJ is now committed to a planned return to free collective bargaining, Jump sum pay claims of up to £30 in provincial news papers and ine inclusion or auto Pat matic compensation for inflation' a Calms DUL tHIS means less than at first sight.
Mike candidate Apart from the fact, admitted by the NUJ's executive, that a 'plan ned' return means a distant return.
should few chapels in the NUJ are strong enough to fight for £30 or anything near that amount on their own.
And although automatic compensation for inflation' like the demand NEC's scale tive made it clear they would not vital press for full compensation. Evening Standard drivers blockade the Daily Express building in Fleet •treetaemandmetoknow netacis penntrumours oraloo-cuttin• meroe between Associated Newspapers and Beaverbrooks. Only after Express JOURNALISTS in the NUJ attacked racism and sexism in and the bias and inaccuracy of Northern Ireland coverage, at their annual conference last week. But proposals for action were still confined mainly to wages and conditions rather than the more 'political' package to get involved.
sexism.
sounds for a sliding execuAction strike at Kettering, which has been going on for over 20 weeks. Strike action was successfully extended to the whole of East Midlands Allied Press following a huge vote, after the executive of the NUJ had claimed that few members wanted But the professional white collar attitude to the political issue of press freedom and the editorial content of newspapers was starkly revealed in debates on racism anc tration there. Even In a debate which was unprecedented for a media union, speaker after speaker condemned material put out in her or his paper. Few journalists disagreed that the racist violence and deaths of last summer workers had occupied the boardroom in the building was the managemer compelled to issue a statement.
against such material suggested by the Campaign Ag ainst Racism in the Media, such as a ban on access to the media by the National Front, was rejected, however, when the spectre of union censorship' was raised. And the call for an end to immigration controls was defeated as 'outside journalists' authority' Implementation of the NUJ's Code of Conduct, however, was ratified by nearly all the delegates *Anyone writing racist filth should be drummed out of the union, declared one 'moderate' The mere fact that an NUJ con ference discussed coverage of Northern Ireland shows how low is th morale and how high the frusVol Journalists WORKHE violently anti-IRA speakers agreed that Army propa ganda was often all the information they had to use. One BBC man from Belfast admitted that he orten broadcast Army rormatio! on his own authority checks or safeguards. plain, that the so-called irist problem is a British problem of our making', said one delegate. •We can all ask for solutions, but with no discussion or analysis there will never be any."
The true extent of the swing to the left in the NUJ suggested by the voting on pay motions will b measured shortly in the forthcoming election of a new General Secretary. Five right-wing o moderate candidates will b opposed by Journalists Charte candidate Aidan White, a journalist on the Stratford Express.
Although Journalists Charter is identified as the left in the NUJ, it usual programme of demand barely extends beyond wages and conditions. Also, under the influence of the Socialist Workers Party, the Charter has adopted a sectarian emphasis on building itself in the election. However journalists are backin, White's campaign and will hope to use it to organise all NUJ members opposed to the Social Contract and
3CUOR. When the Leyland Combine Committee first called for a day of action on 20 April, it was seen and supported as a day of strike For thousands upon thousands of workers this was the green light for mass action to end the attacks upon living standards of REDWEEKLY 28 April 19773 WEEKLY