![[Freelance]](../gif/fl3H.png)
Laura Davison elected next general secretary nuj.org.uk
GS candidates are told:
Heed freelances’ needs
LONDON FREELANCE Branch is to engage with the union’s new leader when she wins the current election for a new NUJ General Secretary.
Michelle Stanistreet is standing down after 14 years and will be succeeded by another woman - because the only two candidates are Natasha Hirst and Laura Davison, who presented themselves for questioning at a hustings event co-organised by LFB on 18 September.
Natasha is the NUJ’s current President, a freelance photographer in South Wales.
Laura is a full-time senior national organiser at the head office in London.
(The President of the NUJ is a working journalist and chair of the decision-making National Executive Council. The General Secretary is the full-time official who runs the organisation.)
They presented a high-contrast choice to the 60-odd members who turned out for the hustings: Laura the polished professional, Natasha the deeply committed freelance activist.
The question-and-answer session was jointly conducted by Tim Gopsill and Niall Mulholland, the chairs respectively of LFB and the London Magazine branches. which sponsored the event.
A number of the questions were concerned with freelances, raising issues on which LFB has long campaigned: how to protect their copyrighted work from theft by AI companies; how to protect photographers from danger on public order assignments; how to raise declining freelance rates; and how to help those earning very low fees get into the union.
Both women gave positive answers to all of these questions, and LFB is going to follow this up. The branch committee has already informed them that the winner will be invited to speak to an early branch meeting, giving them the chance to explain how they plan to put these answers into practice.
- NUJ members should already have received ballot papers in the post. They need to reach Civic Election Services by noon on Monday 7 October so must be posted by Friday 4 October at the latest. If you have not received a ballot paper contact NUJ Membership Department.
Election for NUJ general secretary nuj.org.uk - with candidate statements