Journalists Union demands new wage board to revise pay

The fourth estate is no longer free and fair and this a cause for concern. Having realised this, the National Alliance of Journalists Unions has penned an open letter to Parliament requesting the lawmakers to take a look at the deteriorating working conditions for journalists.

In the view of the recent physical attacks, an immediate hire and fire policy despite the statutory Working Journalist Act, the union has asked the elected members to look into cross-media holdings, contracts and the strangle hold of national and international press. They are lamenting about the increasing army of freelancers, suppression of liberal media and the poor wages for regional reporters.

In the letter, they have submitted:

1. A new wage board be constituted without further delay as the wage board is overdue. The Majithia Wage Board constituted way back in 2007 that was made applicable from 2011.

2. It is our further demand that taking in view the plight of electronic media employees, the Working Journalists Act be made applicable to them too and early steps be taken to end the wave of hire and fire which has caught on there also.

3. The Wage Board should also take into account the plight of press workers in the electronic media just as the wage boards’ take into account the plight of the press workers of the print

4. The Non-implementation of previous wage board should be made a cognizable offence.

5. Simultaneously, we request that the new Wage Board be given a time-line for formulating its recommendations and its implementation with an express provision for continuous hearings and in any case for interim relief within a period of two years.

6: We are of the view that it is time for a pension scheme to be implemented all over the country for both the journalists and press workers of both the Electronic and Print media broadly on the lines of the Kerala model.

7. We are of the view that a model media commission be instituted to look into the state of the entire media taking in view the present media realities – an improvement on the first and second Press Commissions appointed more than four decades ago.

8: We feel it is high time that the present outdated Press Council should be replaced by a wide-spectrum media council taking in view the present realities. Many suggestions of the past two decades already are there before the various authorities in the Government.

9: The National Alliance of Journalists and the DUJ expresses deep concern at the growing attacks on journalists in the country and killings of journalists which are only growing by the day. It is urged that the Government of India to provide protection through legislation to working journalists in print and broadcast media, on par with government employees on duty, which will reduce attacks on journalists on the ground.

10. We are shocked that even the national budget has nothing to offer amidst reports of moves to scuttle any future wage board and little by way of concrete moves to save the Working Journalists Act for tomorrow and to extend it to the booming non-print media.