On 20 October, tens of thousands of people from across the UK and Northern Ireland were marching to take part in’ A Future That Works’. Organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) , the Scottish TUC and the Congress of Trade Unions' Northern Ireland Committee, to protest against the government's austerity policies, it demanded that the government adopts an alternative economic strategy that puts jobs, growth and people first. As well as a march and rally in London, marches and rallies took place in Glasgow and Belfast.
The European Federation of Journalists and its affiliates supported the demonstration. EFJ President Arne König said: “Throughout Europe, and not only in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, our unions are fighting against austerity plans of governments which are putting the future of journalism at risk.” .
NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "Members of the NUJ were marching with thousands of fellow trade unionists, students, pensioners and families on Saturday to protest about the remorseless and wrong-headed cuts that are damaging livelihoods and lives across the UK. Journalists were amongst the marchers because our industry has been particularly badly hit in recent years, as owners of media companies opportunistically seized the chance to cull staff, cut costs and close newspapers altogether, leaving a frightening democratic deficit in our local communities. She said that NUJ members will continue to stand up for journalism.
Jim Boumelha IFJ President added: “It is incomprehensible that the international financial institutions are still pursuing structural adjustment and fiscal austerity, even when it seems evident that this totally incoherent approach is an illusion and has destroyed millions of jobs including thousands of journalists jobs. The IFJ is supporting the ITUC global campaign for the World Bank and IMF to abandon their approach to ‘growth through austerity’ and re-examine all of their policies through the ‘jobs lens’. We congratulate the NUJ and its members for being part of the fight back and joining the wider labour movement to march for the alternative.”
The EFJ, which is a regional organization of the International Federation of journalists, represents over 310,000 journalists in over 30 countries.
For more information, contact the EFJ at +32 2 235.2200.