The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades Union Congress (TUC) affiliated, and a former member of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU).

Structure

There is a range of National Councils beneath the NEC, covering different sections and areas of activity. There is an Industrial Council for each of the NUJ's "industrial" sectors: The Photographers' Council, while not an industrial council, functions in the same way to campaign on issues relevant to the union's photographer, photojournalist and videographer members. There are also National Executive Councils, covering all sectors, for Ireland and Scotland. The Irish Executive Council, which has a higher degree of autonomy, covers Northern Ireland as well as the Republic. Since 2016, in response to Brexit, the Union's Continental European Council further expanded the NUJ's remit to include NUJ members working in Continental Europe, in particular for NUJ branches in Paris, Brussels and the Netherlands, to campaign on issues of common interest. The union's structure is democratic, and its supreme decision-making body is its Delegate Meeting, a gathering of elected delegates from all branches across the UK, Ireland and Europe. Between Delegate Meetings, decisions lie with the NUJ's National Executive Council, a committee of 27 people, elected annually by members. The NEC is chaired by a President, elected, along with a Vice-President and Treasurer, at the Delegate Meeting. The General Secretary (GS) is elected every five years by a national ballot of all members and is held to account and responsible to the National Executive Council (NEC). The current GS is Michelle Stanistreet. The General Secretary is responsible for the day-to-day running of the union and directing its staff. However, important decisions such as authorising industrial action must be taken by the NEC.

Leadership

General Secretaries

Presidents

Presidents of the NUJ: • :1907: R. C. Spencer • :1909: G. H. Lethem • :1911: John Hunter Harley • :1913: W. T. A. Beare • :1914: F. E. Hamer • :1916: E. Williams • :1917: A. Martin • :1918: F. J. Mansfield • :1919: James Haslam • :1920: J. E. Brown • :1921: Thomas Jay • :1922: T. A. Davies • :1923: Walter Meakin • :1924: T. K. Sledge • :1925: Thomas Dickson • :1926: A. J. Rhodes • :1927: H. A. Raybould • :1928: F. W. Bill • :1929: H. D. Nichols • :1930: W. G. Mitchell • :1931: W. Betts • :1932: J. G. Gregson • :1933: James Hume Aitken • :1934: E. J. T. Didymus • :1935: R. S. Forsyth • :1936: F. G. Humphrey • :1937: F. P. Dickinson • :1938: E. S. Bardsley • :1939: James William Thomas Ley • :1940: Ernest E. Hunter • :1941: T. Foster • :1942: D. M. Elliot • :1943: A. Kenyon • :1944: R. J. Finnemore • :1945: A. J. Gibson • :1946: F. Treavett • :1947: J. E. Jay • :1948: L. R. Aldous • :1949: H. D. Moxley • :1950: Jim Bradley • :1951: J. Taylor • :1952: Henry Bate • :1953: P. W. Jarrett • :1954: E. A. Lofts • :1955: A. D. Ramsay • :1956: G. Reid • :1957: T. Bartholomew • :1958: G. R. Mead • :1959: R. G. Venmore-Rowland • :1960: M. J. Williamson • :1961: P. G. Reid • :1962: K. L. Ley • :1963: William Heald • :1964: G. Byrne • :1965: L. H. Kirwan • :1966: D. C. Tuckett • :1967: G. A. Hutt • :1968: Kenneth Holmes • :1969: Cyril Kilner • :1970: C. Bland • :1971: Douglas Rees • :1972: Harold Pearson • :1973: John Bailey • :1974: Ivan Peebles • :1975: Ken Ashton • :1975: Rosaline Kelly • :1977: John Devine • :1978: Denis Macshane • :1979: Jacob Ecclestone • :1980: Francis Beckett • :1981: Harry Conroy • :1982: Jonathan Hammond • :1983: Eddie Barrett • :1984: George Findlay • :1985: Ray McGuigan • :1986: Bob Keogh • :1987: Lionel Morrison • :1988: Barbara Gunnell and S. McGuire • :1989: Paul McGill • :1990: David Sinclair • :1991: Chris Frost • :1992: Jim Boumelha and R. Trevor • :1993: John Toner • :1994: Anita Halpin • :1995: Kyran Connolly • :1996: Jeremy Dear • :1998: Mark Turnbull • :1999: Christy Loftus • :2000: Dave Toomer • :2001: Rory MacLeod • :2002: John Barsby • :2003: George Macintyre • :2004: Jim Corrigal • :2005: Tim Lezard • :2006: Chris Morley • :2007: Michelle Stanistreet • :2008: James Doherty • :2009: Peter Murray • :2011: Donnacha DeLong • :2012: Barry McCall • :2014: Andy Smith and Adam Christie • :2016: Tim Dawson • :2018: Sian Jones • :2021: Pierre Vicary • :2023: Natasha Hirst

Publications

The NUJ publishes a magazine called The Journalist.