People's Democracy

DUJ for United Struggle on Issues

ON August 9, at the Media Centre Trust’s amphitheatre of the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), journalists and press workers bade goodbye to the veteran journalist Abhay Sinha at a get-together, not through a condolence meeting but with an air of festivity as per his last wishes.

The meeting later became a virtual general body where the Wage Board for journalists and press workers and the issues connected with it were discussed threadbare. The call that emanated from here was for a united struggle under the banner of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees Organisations, joined by Wage Board experts, members of the Wage Board and the legal fraternity. Among those who addressed the gathering were Colvin Gonsalves of the Confederation, its secretary-general M S Yadav, Parmanand Pandey (counsel for the Indian Federation of Working Journalists) and Roopchand of the All India Newspaper Employees Federation. Both the meetings were coordinated by DUJ general secretary S K Pande.

Earlier on the day, an extended executive meeting of the DUJ, along with the Association of Accredited News Camera Persons and the Delhi Press Unity Centre, resolved to say ‘NO’ to factionalism and announced the setting up of a Legal Bureau, the first of its type to handle the test cases for the media fraternity and a few test cases on public issues. The meeting further resolved to have a totally new-look amphitheatre and a special fund for media persons in distress. The so-called pension scheme for scribes and press workers was castigated and alternatives suggested.