17 November 2015

Don't let them destroy the BBC

Our BBC is under threat from massive cuts and the NUJ is joining with other BBC unions to make the public aware of what is happening and build a campaign to stop it. 

In Brighton this Saturday (November 21) we are gathering outside the Theatre Royal in New Road from 10.30 and till 2pm to leaflet passers-by and make a noise. Please come along if you can. The leaflet is attached.


And this Thursday NUJ member Mary Brodbin is speaking at a climate change event sponsored by Brighton & Hove Trades Council. It's upstairs at the Quadrant pub by the Clocktower in Brighton, starting 7.30pm. There's a leaflet attached for that, too.

11 November 2015

This Thursday's meeting: Michelle Stanistreet at The Eagle

As well as welcoming NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet, at our next meeting we'll also be considering motions for the union's Delegate Meeting (DM) in the spring.

DM is the NUJ's national conference, and a chance for members to influence union policy. If you'd like to put forward a motion (or more), please email it to branch secretary Phil Mellows - philmellows@btinternet.com, and we'll discuss it.

Thursday 12 November, 7pm
Upstairs at The Eagle, Gloucester Road
The way forward for the NUJ
Speaker: Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary NUJ
Including Q&A

http://www.theeagle.pub

AGENDA

1. Welcome and apologies
2. Election of new members
3. Guest speaker: Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary
4. Motions for NUJ Delegate Meeting
5. Treasurer’s report
6. Save the BBC campaign
7. Trades Council report
8. Events and activities:
  • Saturday, November 14 – Unite the Resistance Defend Our Unions conference, 11am, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London 
  • Tuesday, November 17 – Unison public meeting on council cuts, 7.30pm, Brighthelm Centre 
  • Thursday, November 19 – Trade union climate change meeting, 7.30pm, Quadrant pub (by Clock Tower) 
  • Saturday, November 21 – Joint unions Save the BBC demo, 10.30am, Theatre Royal, New Road, Brighton 
9. Other reports
10. Christmas party
11. Future meetings
12. AoB



29 September 2015

Next two meetings October and November 2015

Dates for your diary

Note that October's meeting has a new date and venue

Monday 12 October, 7pm
The back room (the snug) at the Three Jolly Butchers on North Road, Brighton 
The new anti-trade union laws and how to fight them
Speaker: Phil Clarke, secretary Brighton, Hove & District Trades Council and NUT national executive member

AGENDA
  1. Welcome and apologies
  2. Election of new members
  3. Guest speaker: Phil Clarke, Brighton Trades Council, on the new anti-union laws
  4. The threat to the BBC - possible joint public meeting with Equity and Bectu
  5. Reports - including treasurer's
  6. Future meetings and activities (including Christmas party)
  7. AOB

http://www.three-jolly-butchers.co.uk

Thursday November 12, 7pm
Upstairs at The Eagle, Gloucester Road
The way forward for the NUJ
Speaker: Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary NUJ
Including Q&A

03 July 2015

Branch Summer Party 28 July at the Tempest Inn

Save the date!



Branch Summer Social!

7pm on Tuesday 28 July 2015 at the Tempest Inn, right on Brighton seafront.

There will be free drinks for early birds and quality nibbles too. Bring a partner or friend, especially if they are journalists too.

http://www.drinkinbrighton.co.uk/tempest

To help with planning, please RSVP via Eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nuj-summer-party-tickets-17615071152

13 April 2015

Brighton & Hove District Trades Union Council AGM 15 April 2015 King and Queen


Brighton and Hove District Trades Union Council
Annual General Meeting and 125th Anniversary

Wednesday 15th April 2015 7:30pm King and Queen Pub
Marlborough Place, Brighton, BN1 1UB

Local Union members, committee members and workplace reps are welcome.

Keynote Speakers, local reps organising in the Private and Public Sector

Richard Davies BECTU
Rep at the Duke of York's Cinema where union density has in a short time gone from virtually zero to over 50% of the workforce. BECTU members are now working to force union recognition and building a active union among the casualised workforce that can campaign for better contracts and working conditions.

Liz Ritson NUT
Rep at Hove Park School which has seen a joint parent/student/union campaign successfully fighting off privatisation combining industrial action and public campaigning.

We hope the discussion will enable those present to share experiences and advice as workplace reps with a huge range of experience.

125th Anniversary
All attendees will receive a booklet on the history of the Trades Council that was established in 1890. Brighton has long been a strong centre of union organisation even back in 1926 when our town was the most solidly out of any on the South Coast

Constitutional Amendment

To bring the constitution up to date with the position of affiliate AGMs the following is proposed by the executive.

The current Constitution reads:

6, The Annual General Meeting of the Council shall be held on the third Wednesday in February, and will be followed by the ordinary meeting.

Proposed amendment is to delete "be held on the third Wednesday in February" and insert "normally be held in April".

Effect:
First sentence of Section 6 would read:

6, The Annual General Meeting of the Council shall normally be held in April, and will be followed by the ordinary meeting.

Many thanks


Phil Clarke
General Secretary
Brighton, Hove and District Trades Union Council

01273 380819
brightontradescouncil@gmail.com
www.brightontradescouncil@blogspot.com
@brightonhoveTUC
www.facebook.com/brightontradescouncil

23 March 2015

Next meeting: 24 March at the Eagle - Tim Ridgway from Latest TV




Latest TV's News Editor Tim Ridgway has agreed to be guest speaker at 7.30pm on Tuesday, 24 March 2015.

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/category/watch-our-latest-shows/news/

Venue is once again the upstairs bar at The Eagle, Brighton.

Tim Ridgway has been Head of News, Sport and Current Affairs at Latest TV for more than a year now, overseeing all elements of production for the newscasts, current affairs and sports programmes.

Previously, he spent almost four years as Local Government Reporter at the Brighton Argus, where he had started as a trainee in 2009, as well as freelancing for national newspapers including the Daily Telegraph, The Observer and Mail on Sunday.

04 March 2015

Newspaper summit 25 April 2015

Major summit for newspapers and agencies

10.30-16.00, lunch provided

Saturday 25th April 2015

Unite's office, Transport House, 211 Broad Street, Birmingham B15 1AY

The union's newspapers and agencies industrial council is holding an event for reps to discuss the challenges in the industry and how chapels and branches can respond.

The summit is being called in response to the fundamental changes facing newspaper journalism.

In the past decade more than 5,000 journalist jobs have gone and 150 titles have closed. Digital newsrooms are transforming the way journalists are expected to work. Despite taking on these changes, journalists have not seen their pay improve and are experiencing heavy workloads because they are expected to bring in stories, cover events, produce videos and podcasts and use social media.

Picture desk employees and staff photographers are being cut across the board and production is being moved away from the local paper to subbing hubs many miles away.

Activists and the union's organisers will discuss these developments, which affect all the major regional publishers, and will review the most effective ways to strengthen journalists and journalism during this period of rapid evolution.

More info on https://www.nuj.org.uk/events/major-summit-for-newspapers-and-agencies/

This event is for NUJ members only. Please consider joining the NUJ if you would like to attend this event.

21 January 2015

Next meeting Tuesday 17 February 2015 at the Eagle

Next meeting: Tuesday 17 February 2015 at 7.30pm
Venue: The Eagle (upstairs) 125 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AF
www.theeagle.pub



Greg Hadfield will be talking about how he came to be involved in Brighton & Hove Independent with a vision of helping to create "a 21st-century media platform for a 21st-century city."

He will touch on his 35-year career from typewriters and landlines to digital and open data - including his time as a trainee at Wakefield Express; chief reporter at Western Morning News/Western Evening Herald; news editor of The Sunday Times; senior investigative journalist at the Daily Mail; and head of digital development at Telegraph Media Group.

He will particularly focus on the importance of data-driven journalism and networks (both digital and real-world).

But mainly, he says: "I will talk about citizens!"

13 January 2015

Next meeting: 15 January with Ken Montague


Next Brighton and Sussex Branch Meeting at the Craft Beer Co upstairs
Thursday 15 January, from 8pm


22-23 Upper North Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3FG
http://thecraftbeerco.com/pubs/brighton/

Ken Montague from the Campaign Against Climate Change is primed to speak for 15-20 mins, and there will be a model motion to support the Time To Act On Climate Change demo on March 7. As well as that Ken will talk about the urgency of tackling climate change, what trade unionists can do about it and the campaign for one million green jobs, and will raise the debate about the role of media coverage on the campaign, and the promotion of climate change denial.



MODEL MOTION FOR TRADE UNIONS ON THE “TIME TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE!” DEMONSTRATION AND CREATIVE MOBILISATION ON 7 MARCH 2015.

This branch/region/trades council notes with concern the findings of the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Penal on Climate Change and agrees to support the “Time to Act on Climate Change!” national demonstration and creative mobilisation in central London on March 7th.

It notes in particular the conclusion of the report that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen”.

It also notes the strong recommendation that governments take immediate and concerted action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a catastrophic increase in global temperatures of between 4.5 and 6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial conditions by the end of the century.

In view of this, and the clear evidence that global warming is already affecting the world’s weather patterns, we are dismayed at the failure of governments to reach a binding agreement on limiting emissions and are continuing to implement energy policies that involve the large scale burning of fossil fuels.

It believes that public pressure, including that from trade unions, must be mounted to ensure that this situation is rectified at the crucial COP talks in Paris in December 2015. It further believes that measures like those proposed in the “One Million Climate Jobs” report would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also, by boosting the economy, offer an alternative to austerity.

The branch/region/ trades council therefore resolves:


To encourage members to join the “Time to Act on Climate Change!” demonstration on 7 March, to take the branch/region/trades council banner, and to contribute to the theme blocks of the demonstration as appropriate to the industries covered by the union - Transport, Water, Energy, Food, Divestment, and Climate Jobs.





To give whatever assistance it can to any local action to mobilise support for the demonstration and to encourage other trade union bodies in our area to do likewise. This may include contributing to the cost of a coach to take local people to the demonstration.





To affiliate to the Campaign against Climate Change and to send a representative to meetings of its Trade Union Group. [Affiliation fees: branches and trades councils £25, regions and County Associations £50, national unions £150.]





To make a bulk order for copies of the new edition of the One Million Climate Jobs report for sale to members. [Copies can be ordered through the link at http://www.campaigncc.org/greenjobs.]





To notify the organisers of the demonstration of our decision by e-mailing info@campaigncc.org.