Last month the Guardian published an article bemoaning the fact that trade unions aren't covered properly.
Unions deserve to be covered by specialists
It's by Christine Buckley, democratically elected editor of The Journalist, the magazine of my own union, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
As a journalist who used to be a trade union organiser I decided to rise to the challenge.
So welcome to a new blog - The Workers United.
I look forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteAs a former regional industrial correspondent and current trade union organiser, I think you are on a winner here Miles. I would say however that while the mainstream media do a great deal to marginalise the unions, they don't do enough themselves to combat that. Too often, journalists will be viewed as the enemy by suspicious trade union officials and, quite frankly, often some unions do not want coverage of local industrial action if it does not suit a certain political element within the union. Confident and campaigning unions looking outwards would get more coverage but all too often the battles are inward. And many unions would run a mile from the sort of press the RMT gets - even though it helps to build membership and win disputes.
ReplyDeleteHi Miles,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chris....as a journalist now back on the Leamington Courier I had a heck of a job trying to get Unite to ring me back over a potential dispute at West Midlands Ambulance Service. Some 44 workers at potentially losing their jobs if they don't either retrain or travel 75 miles to Staffordshire. There was a press release but some of the details needed checking. The first week of the action nobody rang me back; the second week the local branch at first said everybody was too busy to ring me back and then, when I became a bit insistent, an official did get me back...after the deadline.
Good to hear from you.
Barbara Goulden