Birmingham and Coventry National Union of Journalists

Put your MP to work demand they sign EDM 2087 & EDM 2082
Early Day Motions are very good ways of raising issues in parliament, which may not get debated in normal sittings of parliament.
You can contact your MP for free, through: WriteToThem.Com


Early day motion 2087: South Yorkshire Newspapers
That this House notes that journalists at South Yorkshire Newspapers, part of Johnston Press, have voted for strike action over threatened editorial redundancies; further notes that the journalists voted in favour in a ballot that saw a 100 per cent. support on a 90 per cent. turnout; believes that the threatened cuts would cause particular damage to the weekly South Yorkshire Times and halve the editorial team who produce the best performing weekly paper in South Yorkshire Newspapers; condemns the Johnston Press' proposals to remove the posts of editor of the South Yorkshire Times, the sports editor of the Doncaster Free Press and the editor of the Goole Courier and to merge the Goole and Selby Times under one editor; further believes that journalists in Yorkshire are leading the fight for quality journalism and local news; supports the National Union of Journalists and their members in their campaign to defend the quality of news service they bring to their local communities; and calls on Johnston Press to withdraw its proposals, which will cost jobs, undermine the future viability of the affected titles and damage the provision of local news in South Yorkshire.
Primary sponsor: Austin Mitchell, Date tabled: 13/07/2011


Early day motion 2082: Yunus Bakhsh
That this House congratulates Mr Yunus Bakhsh on securing reinstatement after his unfair dismissal by the Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust; notes that Mr Bakhsh was a long-serving nurse and trade union representative whose unfair dismissal was found to be a result of trade union victimisation and disability discrimination; deplores the refusal of the Trust to agree to Mr Bakhsh's reinstatement in line with the order of the Employment Tribunal; further notes that Mr Bakhsh incurred considerable expense arranging legal representation and calls on the Trust to pay his legal costs; and further calls on the Secretary of State for Health to investigate the conduct of the case by the Trust and the expenditure of hundreds and thousands of pounds of public money in a failed attempt to justify the victimisation of a trade union official.
Primary sponsor: John McDonnell, Date tabled: 13/07/2011


Yunus Bakhsh turned away on first day back at work
Health bosses in Newcastle are flouting an Employment Tribunal and refusing to re-employ Yunus Bakhsh, a nurse they unlawfully sacked. Yunus won his case for unfair dismissal against Northumbria Tyne and Wear NHS Trust last year.

In a scathing judgement, the panel concluded that he had been sacked for his trade union activity and discriminated against because he suffers from depression.

The panel derided much of the Trust's evidence as "not credible". And, in a rare move, the judge ordered the Trust to "re-engage" Yunus by 30 June 2011.
by Yuri Prasad, SocialistWorkerOnline, 09/07/11