President's Notes

Dear Comrade,

As you probably know already the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) own its long drawn out battle to not only get the Wage Boards for Working Journalists and Non-Journalists but also get its due place in the Wage Board for Working Journalists.
Most of you would recall how we fought for amendments to Working Journalists Act during the Manisana Singh Wage Board to increase the number of Working Journalists on it to give representation to the IJU. The Act was duly amended but the employers and vested interests in the Government succeeded in keeping the IJU out of the Board.

This time we took no chance and while fighting hard for the setting up the two Wage Boards we also made sure that no hanky-panky was played to deprive the IJU of its rightful place on the Wage Board for the Working Journalists.

The vested interest once again tried their best to play politics but leadership alertness did not allow them to succeed and ultimately thanks to the struggle put by you all, we succeeded in securing not only the Wage Boards but also IJU's representation on it and I am addressing this letter not only as IJU President and also your representative on the Wage Board for Working Journalists.
We would not, however, succeeded in the struggle without the full cooperation and support of CPI National Secretary Mr. D. Raja and CPI Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) Mr. Sudhakar Reddy, which was amply available. Our thanks also to AICC General Secretary Mr. Janardan Dwivedi and Mr. V. Narayanasamy for their support.

Last but not the least we must gratefully acknowledge role played by UPA Chair Person Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in supporting our cause.

Comrade, now as the Wage Board has been constituted we must prepare a strong case for interim relief and subsequently wage revision. Presidents and General Secretary of State Unions are therefore requested to send the following information immediately; 1) number and names of Daily Newspapers and periodicals and their place of publication, 2) their respective circulation figure and selling price (5 years), ) rate of display and classified advertisement and their rates (5 years), 4) total number of journalists in the newspaper covered by the Wage Board and also their designation, 5) total number of journalists on contract basis with their designation and payment package.

Comradely Yours,
Suresh Akhouri
President, IJU
09 June 2007