Travelling by early train through to the capital (Edinburgh) is always a bit of a media event. Journalists from most of the big media players join at Queen Street station and exit at Waverley, making their way up to the parliament building (by the lowest incline of course). Normally I will be going to Barclay House or to a meeting with one or two of our many political friends and it gives me a chance to spill the beans about the latest development at one or another of our main employers. No prizes for guessing which is current favourite for the chat.
Along with STUC officer Stephen Boyd and officials from Equity and Musicians Union, I met with Culture Minister Linda Fabiani and her team this week. She asked me a few times (tongue in cheek) couldn't I do something about my members and their reluctance to report on some of the recent good or interesting news. However most of our discussion surrounded the future of broadcasting in Scotland and it was gratifying to see how much progress this issue has made on the Scottish political agenda.
Trying to engage with the last regime was difficult at the best of times, but mention broadcasting and they ran a mile, in one case to vote on female circumcision - honestly.
However following the Broadcast Commission there is lots of interest being shown by politicos in Westminster and Holyrood on what is happening at BBC Scotland and STV among others.
They should be aware that there could be trouble at mill and I mean at Pacific Quay not Pebble Mill. Jobs are being threatened at BBC Scotland and the threat includes compulsory redundancies, not something the joint unions are too keen on. Talks in London, aimed at mediation, broke down today and it looks as though a ballot is on the cards.
It is crazy as both sides know that there is money available to create new jobs, which had been earmarked for BBC Local, and it could easily be accessed with some swift movement by the BBC Trust Scottish contingent. We also need similar swift movement from BBC hierarchy in delivering more network programmes and commissions to Scotland, they appear to be stretching it to 2016 and that is just not on.
Political support for the Scottish media is essential and I welcome the setting up of another initiative by Secretary of State Jim Murphy MP on broadcasting. Hopefully he will invite ALL interested parties who are keen to help move things in a positive direction and have a word in the shell-like of BBC management at the same time.
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Interesting People
One of the perks of the job as Scottish Organiser is varied travel and meeting interesting people. In my case I get to meet various people and have very interesting travel experiences.
A number of those experiences involved air travel, so I tend to go by rail and car these days. Unfortunately the incidents don’t seem to have diminished.
Many of the people I meet these days are employers, some of them more interesting than others. Some bring much entertainment to my life - as well as value added stress.
On Friday I got up at 5am and drove to BBC Scotland to have a chat with Gary Robertson on Good Morning Scotland. He wanted me to tell the Scottish commuters and breakfasters about the madness of dealing with Newsquest.
One of those commuters was our lawyer Amanda Jones who was entertained (again) at the latest wacky news from Renfield Street, providing her with even more food for thought towards her overall legal opinion.
Graham Morrison is an interesting man and he had some things worthy of note to speak about later that morning. He is MD at Clyde & Forth and makes every effort to engage with the union, he nearly always pre-consults before coming to negotiate. I believe there will be some pain at their papers from darkest Ayrshire across to the kingdom of Fife but it will be done with maximum consultation and minimum job losses. Something I seek from every meeting these days.
Two new chapel committees were voted in later that day around the NUJ boardroom table. S&UN-Trinity and Johnston Press group chapels have new officer structures to help build the union strength. They will be needed as they discussed the latest thoughts and strategies of their “talented and imaginative” employers. Indeed it was noted that Tim Bowdler once of JP, was being recognised for his unique services to the newspaper industry. One observant FoC said he was certainly not unique, there are others who have caused similar levels of damage in recent years.
Travel was looming and as I boarded the train to London, my hope was to get some sleep before meeting my fellow officials at Kings Cross, prior to the Saturday jobs summit.
I was woken up by a loud announcement as the train guard informed us that an incident on the tracks meant everyone would have to get off at Preston. After some confusion as to where the buses were situated we set off to Wigan in the rain. It took nearly an hour from start to finish and of course all trains north and southbound were delayed. Temporary solution was to sample the delights of a local hostelry frequented by Wigan’s chosen few.
Back at the station platform delays south, like the travellers, were excessive. Estimated time of arrival in Euston was early hours depending on lots of things. I would have been up at 8am to speak at the NUJ jobs summit, however there was a train on platform 5 heading to Glasgow. After making my way back and forth twice between both platforms I realised it was a no-brainer and headed back north.
A number of those experiences involved air travel, so I tend to go by rail and car these days. Unfortunately the incidents don’t seem to have diminished.
Many of the people I meet these days are employers, some of them more interesting than others. Some bring much entertainment to my life - as well as value added stress.
On Friday I got up at 5am and drove to BBC Scotland to have a chat with Gary Robertson on Good Morning Scotland. He wanted me to tell the Scottish commuters and breakfasters about the madness of dealing with Newsquest.
One of those commuters was our lawyer Amanda Jones who was entertained (again) at the latest wacky news from Renfield Street, providing her with even more food for thought towards her overall legal opinion.
Graham Morrison is an interesting man and he had some things worthy of note to speak about later that morning. He is MD at Clyde & Forth and makes every effort to engage with the union, he nearly always pre-consults before coming to negotiate. I believe there will be some pain at their papers from darkest Ayrshire across to the kingdom of Fife but it will be done with maximum consultation and minimum job losses. Something I seek from every meeting these days.
Two new chapel committees were voted in later that day around the NUJ boardroom table. S&UN-Trinity and Johnston Press group chapels have new officer structures to help build the union strength. They will be needed as they discussed the latest thoughts and strategies of their “talented and imaginative” employers. Indeed it was noted that Tim Bowdler once of JP, was being recognised for his unique services to the newspaper industry. One observant FoC said he was certainly not unique, there are others who have caused similar levels of damage in recent years.
Travel was looming and as I boarded the train to London, my hope was to get some sleep before meeting my fellow officials at Kings Cross, prior to the Saturday jobs summit.
I was woken up by a loud announcement as the train guard informed us that an incident on the tracks meant everyone would have to get off at Preston. After some confusion as to where the buses were situated we set off to Wigan in the rain. It took nearly an hour from start to finish and of course all trains north and southbound were delayed. Temporary solution was to sample the delights of a local hostelry frequented by Wigan’s chosen few.
Back at the station platform delays south, like the travellers, were excessive. Estimated time of arrival in Euston was early hours depending on lots of things. I would have been up at 8am to speak at the NUJ jobs summit, however there was a train on platform 5 heading to Glasgow. After making my way back and forth twice between both platforms I realised it was a no-brainer and headed back north.
Thursday 22 January 2009
Welcome to the Paul Holleran blog site
I intend writing a diary type piece as often as is possible to keep members posted as to the varied and entertaining working life we live as NUJ officials.
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