Major division in NUJ ranks
The NUJ has pushed through a controversial agreement that allows reporters to carry out assignments that might otherwise be shot by press photographers.
The landmark in-house agreement at the Drogheda Independent has caused a massive rift within the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), with photographers around the country claiming it could have massive repercussions on their jobs (BJP, 08 August).
The union's Emergency Committee (which is part of the National Executive Council) has ruled that 'there is no impediment, either under rule or policy, to the signing of the Drogheda Independent house agreement by chapel officers and the appropriate officials of the NUJ'.
Seamus Dooley, the NUJ Irish secretary, told BJP that although a date has not been set for the agreement to be signed, there are no further impediments. 'The chapel had already voted to accept the agreement, so in the light of the NEC decision the agreement can now be signed.'
The decision goes against that of the union's Irish Executive Committee, which suggested the agreement be rejected in its present form.
Meanwhile, relations between photographer membership of the NUJ and union officials have worsened.
As BJP went to press, a website set up specifically for NUJ photographers had been closed and the man behind it, Pete Jenkins, had been forbidden by union officials to restart it or set up any other connected to the NUJ. The venture has also been deprived of further funding and Jenkins has been asked to return his NUJ contacts database.
Jenkins chose to shut down the NUJPhoto website after Dooley insisted on access to view members' comments about the Drogheda agreement.
The moderators of the website relate that Dooley's request was rejected twice after a poll of members' views. However, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, who is currently on holiday, waded in with a strongly worded letter to the chair of the NUJ's Freelance Industrial Council (FIC), stating his support for Dooley. 'It is simply unacceptable for a member to bar another member in good standing from being part of an official NUJ discussion group', he wrote. 'It is also unacceptable for a member to prevent another member from being able to access and respond to derogatory comments being written about them'.
Dear added an attack on Jenkins and the moderators of the website stating: 'It is also unacceptable that someone given a position of responsibility by the union should seek to use a union-financed facility, which is there for all members, to pursue a personal agenda against another member in good standing. It does not matter whether that member is an official or not - this is an abuse of authority and an abuse of union facilities. The FIC may like to consider in light of this whether the current moderator is a fit and proper person to serve in such an important role'
Jenkins has defended the forum against these charges stating, 'The accusation that there were derogatory comments are totally unfounded', also claiming that many of Dear's comments are 'unsubstantiated slurs'. He also says that although the FIC does pay 'small annual amounts towards the list's upkeep', it is 'privately owned'.
Despite this, Jenkins says he felt he had no choice but to close the website, and his plans to open an another NUJPhoto list had been hampered. A letter recently received by him from John Fray, deputy general secretary of the NUJ, states: 'The NEC Emergency Committee wishes to make it absolutely clear that it does not sanction any restarting of NUJPhoto or other similar organisation which in any way utilises the name, logo or initials or in any other way may give the impressions that it is in any way authorised by the NUJ or associated with the NUJ.'
Jenkins has now opened an unofficial forum at www.nvphoto.co.uk inviting the current members of NUJPhoto to participate. Despite the continuing friction, he added that he hopes that relations will be repaired over the coming months. He said: 'I am absolutely gobsmacked that the union has taken the stance it has, especially without consultation. I am very disappointed by the whole matter. However, I hope that sanity will kick in at some stage and John Fray will offer to sit down and talk to me.'
