DM 2021: health and safety
The first debate and order paper at the NUJ conference this morning was health and safety.
The first motion taken this morning at the start of NUJ conference (motion six) was tabled by the Bristol branch and focuses on the safety of journalists. NUJ conference condemned the physical attacks and abuse targeting media professionals when doing their job.
In the UK there has been a surge in violence against journalists and, in particular, photographers, as politics has become more polarised.
A climate of hostility towards journalists exists globally, for example the Netherlands NUJ branch highlighted that 61 per cent of journalists working in the Netherlands have reported receiving some form of threat. The Dutch Journalists Union, the NVJ, has joined forces with the Dutch association of senior editors, the public prosecution service, and the police to launch a joint press safety campaign.
Conference also condemned the murder of more than 49 journalists worldwide in 2019 including two in Europe, Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland and Yadym Komarov in the Ukraine.
Conference agreed to continue to campaign with stakeholders, including politicians, community groups and media owners to seek to ensure the police and other authorities provide full protection for journalists and to publicly campaign on the importance of ethical, quality journalism.
The NUJ’s health and safety committee has already produced guidelines covering public order and harassment and provides health and safety training for union reps. The NUJ agreed today that it will continue to work with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to campaign against harassment and the killing of journalists across the world and continue to press for a new UN safety convention.
The NUJ also pledged to co-ordinate a campaign to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on 2 November.
The second motion agreed this morning was motion 8 submitted by the Netherlands branch. The motion highlighted the Dutch Journalists Union, the NVJ, initiative that has joined forces with the Dutch association of senior editors, the public prosecution service, and police to launch a safety campaign. The campaign includes an agreement with the minister of justice that threats against journalists are given the highest priority, a website for reporting threats and violence, guidelines on how these should best be dealt with, and higher penalties for those found guilty of threats and violence.
The NUJ’s health and safety committee amended the motion to highlight the International Labour Organisation Convention 190, adopted in June 2019, that focuses on violence and harassment at work and obliges employers to follow health and safety approaches to identify potential hazards, assess the risks and then ensure reasonable precautions are in place to minimise the hazard.
Conference agreed to remind media employers of their obligations under ILO Convention 190 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to assess hazards which can be reasonably foreseen and ensure that reasonable precautions are in place to protect journalists.
The motion instructed the union to work with the NUJ’s parliamentary group and the TUC on the safety of journalists, investigate if any lessons can be learnt from the Dutch initiative, and consider if a similar joint approach between the media and law enforcement organisations could be adopted in the UK.
Motion 147 followed the same themes as previous motions and was submitted by the ethics council. The motion was agreed and it instructs the union to campaign in the UK and Ireland with stakeholders, including politicians, community groups and media owners to ensure the police and other authorities provide full protection from attack and to publicly campaign about the importance of ethical, quality journalism.
Motion 9 was dedicated to remembering Lyra McKee and was proposed by Siobhan Holliman, she said: “We take a moment to remember her work as a union activist and journalist”. Francis Sedgemore seconded the motion and said that Lyra was a “freelance journalist extraordinaire ... May she be an inspiration to other freelance journalists.”
The motion salutes the memory of NUJ member, journalist and activist Lyra McKee who was murdered by the self-styled New IRA in Creggan, Derry on 18 April 2019.
Lyra was a young, accomplished journalist and author with a promising career, and an inveterate campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights. In her own words, Lyra McKee was a child of the Good Friday Agreement. In her work she sought to promote equality, social solidarity and inclusivity and highlighted the failure of political leadership in Northern Ireland.
Through her work, Lyra shone a light into issues all too often missing from public discourse, including mental health, suicide and LGBTQ+ inequality.
NUJ conference acknowledged with admiration all who stood up to those responsible for the murder of Lyra and commended the trade union and community activists who organised vigils and protests in the wake of her death.
Delegates reaffirmed the union’s commitment to the principles underpinning the Good Friday Agreement and acknowledged the dignified manner in which Lyra’s murder was marked at May Day 2019 events in Belfast, Derry and other locations.
The NUJ’s Belfast branch amended the motion to highlight the murder on 28 September 2001 of NUJ member Martin O’Hagan by the Loyalist Volunteer Force. The NUJ has called for an independent investigation into Martin’s murder and the failure of the state to convict his killers.
Conference agreed that the union should examine the feasibility of holding a suitable commemorative event in honour of Lyra, consistent with the wishes of her partner and family.
Read the report from the NUJ event last night: NUJ salutes the spirit of Lyra McKee.
Motion 12 was proposed by the NUJ's photographer’s council and was agreed by conference. The motion focuses on trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Journalists can be exposed to potentially traumatic experiences in many aspects of their work, including being in conflict and disaster zones (at home or abroad), viewing raw images of conflict and disaster, and when they attend scenes of injury or fatality.
The health and safety committee has produced guidance for reps to ensure that potentially traumatic situations are appropriately risk assessed so that reasonable precautions can be put in place in line with the (UK) Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, both for freelances as well as employees.
Conference agreed the health and safety committee, equality council, disabled members’ council and photographers’ council should work together and organise a “round table” event on PTSD.
Motion 13 was proposed by the health and safety committee and was agreed by conference. The motion proposed to organise an NUJ event about health and safety at work. Motion 14 was tabled by the Oxford and district branch and was agreed. The motion highlighted the unsustainable workloads of media workers, including excessive hours and high levels of stress. The motion encouraged the union to work to change media workplace culture and equip workers to stand up to excessive pressure and workloads.
Motion 15 was proposed by the PR and communications branch and conference supported the motion that agreed to conduct a survey of members to assess the extent that stress and workload are affecting members’ mental health.