Birmingham and Coventry National Union of Journalists

Calling notice: Coventry & Birmingham Branch Meeting April 2014

Tuesday 8 th April 2014
Kahawa Cafe
163 New Union Street
Coventry
CV1 2PL
6:00 pm for 6:30 start

Any apologies to branch chair:  tony@tonyadamsproductions.com

Agenda

1) Introduction by chair/those attending

2) Minutes of March meeting

3) Secretary/Treasurers reports

4) Branch reports

5) Up date on disputes

6) Any other business

Item in this message:

Stand Up For Education  -  Rally to Defend Teachers

Fair Pay Fortnight - West Midlands Wage Summit

Benefits Street or Scapegoat Street

What all journalists need to know about the Defamation Act 2013

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Stand Up For Education  -  Rally to Defend Teachers

Birmingham   -  Wednesday  26th march 2014
11:30 am to 12:4 5 pm
Victoria Square
Birmingham,
B1 1BD

The NUT needs your support to defend education and protect teachers. There is a national strike planned for This Wednesday March 26. there will be Picket Lines across Birmingham schools followed by a rally in Victoria Square @ 11:30am

Striking Against:

    Excessive workload and bureaucracy
    Performance related pay
    Unfair pension changes

Pay: Destroying the national pay framework means tat in every school head teachers and governors have to worry about developing a pay system instead of focusing onf teaching and learning.

Workload: Government policies mean that far too much time is spent on bureaucratic box-ticking that stops teachers focusing on teaching.

Pensions: The NUT recognises that other workers are having their pensions squeezed. We believe that this is wrong too - everyone should be entitled to  a decent standard of living in retirement.

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EDM 1207: Wage Levels And The TUC's Fair Pay Fortnight Campaign
That this House notes that living standards have been under pressure since the recession of 2008-09 and despite the recent recovery in growth are not yet picking up, and that real wages for the average full-time worker have fallen by £2,800 since 2009; further notes that the reason for the squeeze, the longest since the 1870s, is weak wage growth; further notes that even on the more optimistic forecasts, real wages for those in the middle and below will not return to their 2008 levels until around 2020, and that whilst more people are now in work and unemployment is falling, too many of the new jobs are low paid, insecure and precarious; believes that a real, sustainable recovery which benefits ordinary people will require real wages to rise, and that this would not only relieve some of the strains on living standards but provide a solid underpinning for rising household spending and economic growth; and therefore strongly agrees with the TUC that Britain needs a pay rise, and supports the TUC's Fair Pay Fortnight campaign beginning on 24 March 2014.

Sponsors: Lavery, Ian/ Morris, Grahame M / Mearns, Ian / Sheridan, Jim / Cryer, John / Clark, Katy   -   House of Commons: <>  20.03.2014


Fair Pay Fortnight - West Midlands Wage Summit

Friday 4th April 2014 - 18:30 to 20:30
Birmingham City Council Chamber
Town Hall
Victoria Square
Birmingham, B3 3DQ
Costs:  Free

About this event:  Working people in the UK are seeing their living standards squeezed harder and harder every year. The cost of energy, food and housing is soaring but pay isn't keeping up. On average, workers in the West Midlands have lost more than £2,500 since 2009 and many people are trapped in low-paid and insecure jobs.

Speakers:
Chair Rob Johnston Midlands TUC Regional Secretary

Joe Morgan GMB Regional Secretary

Cllr Stewart Stacey Birmingham City Council

David Gardner KPMG, Director of Public Policy

Jack Dromey Erdington MP & Shadow Police Minister

Mark New  UNISON West Midlands Regional Organiser

Further speakers to be confirmed

A media campaign action will also be held at 12 noon outside Birmingham Town hall on 4 April

Inquiries/Further Information:
Michelle Kesterton <mkesterton@tuc.org.uk>

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Benefits Street or Scapegoat Street

Public Meeting

2:30pm Saturday 5th April

The Priory Rooms, Bull Street (off Corporation Street), Birmingham, B4 6AF

Speakers:
Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary, PCS
Robert Punton, Disabled Peoples Against the Cuts
Sandra Kane, Birmingham Benefit Justice Campaign

Organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union PCS
<>  www.pcs.org.uk

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What all Journalists Need to Know About the Defamation Act 2013

This event is for NUJ members only

The Defamation Act 2013 is now in force and has introduced major changes which affect how journalists work.

Tamsin Allen and Athalie Matthews of Bindmans LLP will guide members through the changes. They will discuss:

    what constitutes defamation;
    what constitutes publication to third parties;
    the various forms that defamation can take;
    and the new defences introduced by the Act.

There will be time for questions and answers.

We expect places at the seminar will be in high demand, they will be allocated on a strictly first-come-first-served basis.


Wednesday 16 April 2014 / Headland House, 308-312 Gray's Inn Rd, London

Further details / contact information

Email: freelanceoffice@nuj.org.uk