Property crash stops NUJ selling London HQ

The fall in property prices has stopped the NUJ from going ahead with plans to sell its London HQ and move in with broadcasting union BECTU.
The union had hoped to cash in by selling Headland House in King's Cross which in pre-recession days looked set to have a property boom as the area was redeveloped with the arrival of Eurostar at St. Pancras.
But the latest report from the NUJ's policy making National Executive Council states: "With the state of the property market having put an end to plans to sell Headland House and share a new building it is expected the union will reorganise staff and now rent out one floor at its London HQ to bring in around £45,000 per annum."
The report also says: "The union will face a deficit of £500,000 a year by September 2012 unless action is taken to raise income and cut expenditure, general secretary Jeremy Dear told the NEC.
"With job losses having an impact on union membership levels the NEC backed action to 'bring spending back in to line with our projected income'. Work done by the union’s finance team show that based on just a 2% fall in income for each of the next 3 years the union will need to find an additional half a million pounds a year in additional income or cuts in expenditure by 2012 to achieve a balanced budget."
A draft action plan covering union buildings, subscriptions, membership as well as expenditure on ADM, staffing, services, administration and all other areas of the union’s work is currently the subject of joint consultations with three staff unions.
Proposals to charge an administrative fee in respect of some legal cases are to be investigated.

NUJ takes campaign against cuts to MPs

The NUJ is organising a lobby of the UK parliament at 2pm in London on Wednesday 25 March as part of its campaign against media cutbacks. Chapels and branches from all over the UK are being urged to send representatives to talk to local MPs.

Quotes of the week

It's been a good week for quotes. Here's my pick.

Nick Davies, at the NUJ Jobs Summit, on the public status (or lack of it) of journalists: "Being judged by people on the performance of Murdoch and Dacre is like all Transylvanians being judged on Dracula's behaviour. We have to fight back against it. Our position is similar to that in which gay men and women found themselves in the 1950s and 1960s. They were unable to orchestrate their political strength to change the law because they weren't liked, they were shunned."

Derry Journal NUJ chapel, on proposed job cuts: "The Derry Journal survived the Famine, but we fear it may not survive Johnston Press."

Sly Bailey on Digital Britain interim report: "Frankly time is running out. Regional newspaper publishers are facing the most challenging times in their history, mergers and combinations of newspaper groups offer the only chance of survival for some titles."

Greg Dyke on the influence of the Hutton Report (five years old this week) on the BBC: "On Iraq I don't think the BBC has been brave since then."


BBC director general Mark Thompson on BBC websites linking to Gaza Appeal: "This is a valid decision for news editors to make when reporting that the appeal is happening; as we know that many people will want more information about the appeal or donating to it. Providing them with that information in no way alters the fact that my decision - however controversial - was the correct one to preserve the BBC's impartiality."

Sun editor Rebekah Wade, giving the Hugh Cudlipp Lecture: "Newspaper pessimism is age old, nearly as old as some of the media commentators."

Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie: "I used to have a business in Swansea and decided to make a "seagull visit" - fly in, s*** on the staff and fly back to my London office."

Wade on MacKenzie, answering a question after Hugh Cudlipp Lecture: "He's not allowed in Scotland...or the North."

Headline of the Week: The Sun on the 'Lords for hire' story : 'PEERS MORONS'