NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear addresses supporters of Charles at bail hearing

Journalist Charles Atangana, who is being threatened with deportation back to Cameroon, won his bail hearing yesterday. Charles was being held in Dover Immigration Removal Centre while his case was being heard in a tribunal in central London.

A lively band of supporters, including NUJ and Unison members, were outside the tribunal in support of Charles. The news arrived of him winning bail in the afternoon. Now the campaign has won its first step but there is still a long way to go for Charles to win his asylum case.

Charles was arrested and tortured in Cameroon, a country where journalists and political activists who oppose the government are ill-treated and sometimes killed. he fled to the UK and lived in Scotland before being detained and threatened with deportation.

More on the campaign at the NUJ website

1. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear has a comment is free piece in the Guardian in support for Charles and outlining the case (see post below for more details).

   And the TUC is also supporting  Charles, pointing out that unions must fight for freedom of expression as it is central to the freedom to organise. And that fight must be international.

Staff at the BBC have reacted angrily to the bosses’ attempt to cut their pensions. The NUJ, Bectu and three other unions are organsing meetings to discuss joint action against the robbery. BBC announced that it wanted to cap pensionable pay at 1% from April 2011 and revalue pensions at a lower level.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that top managers at the corporation have a pension slush fund that gaurantees them big payouts while cutting those of staff.

There was a lively protest at Richard Desmond’s Express and Star offices on Thursday 15 July over the newspapers’ homophobic attacks (pics of protest here).

The Daily Express had condemned a judge’s ruling that gay people facing oppression in their own country were entitled to asylum in this country. The Express ran a headline on its front page “Now asylum if you’re gay”. The papers also claimed that the ruling would mean that the UK would be overrun by gays people.

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Newsquest staff in the Midlands have 100% in favour of action in defence of three colleagues.Newsquest are planning to move the three from the current workplace in Stourbridge to Worcester – 30 miles away.

More at NUJ site

NUJ member, Hassan Ghani – who was arrested when the Israeli military stormed the Gaza flotilla on Monday – gives his first account of what happened when the Israeli military stormed the ships.
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Staff at the Financial Times recently had an impressive victory in standing up for four Chinese journalists. Management had planned to move the four to China and cut their pay by up to 50 Per cent. In only a few days NUJ members organised a mass chapel meeting and beat back the attack. Here, Father of the Chapel, Dave Crouch, explains how the victory was achieved and how it has improved morale on the paper

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The NUJ Left will be holding a meeting on Saturday, 6 March in London from midday to 4pm. There will be a session on Expose, the media campaign against the BNP, which was launched recently. Also there will be sessions on the Press Association, union democracy and organising activists.

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NUJ members around the country are continuing to fight back against attacks on jobs, quality and conditions.

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The NUJ has welcomed a decision by the BBC to develop its Radio Foyle output in Derry, rather than scrap it. The change of heart follows a campaign by local NUJ members and leaders of all sections of the community to keep the service going.

Story here