19 April 2004

April meeting - Argus gets organised

Minutes

Present
Jemima Kiss, David Blackman, Veronica Bridgewater, Karen Hoy, Wale Azeez, Bipinchandra Mistry, John O'Donoghue, Adam Juniper, Deborah Tucknott, Brendan Montague, Steve Whitehead, Rowan Dore, Adrian Colley, Chris Langdon, Chris Baker, Fraser Addecott, Jon Kendrick, Linda Harrison, Adrian Colley.

Apologies
Barbara Wiseman, Naomi Marks, Naomi Phillipson.

1 Officers' reports
Treasurer Adrian Colley reported we had £1,190 in the bank. Social Secretary Jemima Kiss announced that former Mirror editor Roy Greenslade was to speak at the May meeting and Yvonne Ridley would, she hoped, be able to make it to the June meeting.

2 Chapel report
Karen Hoy, from the Argus said arbitration service ACAS had met the managing director at the Argus. The 'bargaining unit' hoping to gain union recognition is some 90 members of staff. Nearly all the reporters had joined the NUJ and there were more applications in the pipeline she said. Recent pay rises were between 1.4% and 4.5%. She said the paper was eight staff down in the last 12 months and the new MD was being approached by Argus editor Simon Bradshaw about the problem.

3 ADM report
Rowan Dore's report was accepted. Adrian Colley pointed out that the branch had been critical of the Journalist magazine and had been told that there were vacancies on its editorial board, so if anyone wants to make the criticisms count then they can be nominated to serve on the board, which meets four times a year.

4 Members in Need donation
The branch agreed to sponsor a Scottish member who ran in the London Marathon. £50 will go towards the money she raised for the NUJ's Members In Need charity.

5 Any other business
Soundings were taken as to whether a summer party should be held in August. A vote favoured a party in a park rather than a beach.