Cardiff Media strike comes to an end
Appeal to stop re-election of paid Editor is granted
Student media at Cardiff University went on strike earlier this following a decision by the Student Senate (Cardiff’s version of Union Council) to force a re-election of Cardiff’s Vice-President of Media and Marketing.
Cardiff is the only other University to have a full-time Media Sabbatical Officer (Imperial being the other). Like Imperial, the Officer also edits the student paper, Gair Rhydd, full time.
The previous Vice-President, Tom Eden, resigned in late October for personal reasons. On a statement on Cardiff University Student Union (CUSU)’s website, he said: “Having given my all in the role throughout the past year and a half, I have decided that now is the right time to step down, believing this to be the best step for me both personally and professionally.”
The same statement noted that both Eden, and his team in student media agreed to keep the role vacant, feeling that electing a new officer would lead to undue disruption to both student media, and the replacement’s education due having leave their studies part way through the year.
This view was shared by Elliot Howells, the president of CUSU, who said: “It is the feeling of the Sabbatical Trustees that a by-election is not in the best interest in the organisation as a whole at this present time.”
At Senate, a motion was put forward to leave the position vacant, however this was rejected by 15 votes to 9. One Senator, Kate Delaney, wrote on her blog: “the reason I voted against this motion is down to democracy and accessibility”, continuing, “By allowing someone who is unelected and accountable to be given the job [of editing Gair Rhydd] was an issue for me”.
In response to the rejection of this motion, all of Cardiff’s media outlets went on str ike on Sunday 16th November, with Gair Rhydd’s staff also threatening to resign en masse if the election is to go ahead. Meanwhile, volunteers working in student media wrote a joint letter to the Board of Trustees raising their concerns.
Meanwhile, a petition on the iPetitions website amassed 764 signatures, with many of the people who signed the signature being consumers rather than contributors.
On the 19th November, the Board of Trustees published a statement on CUSU’s website. In this statement, they announced that the Board had quashed Senate’s decision, noting that keeping the position vacant was in the best interests of the organisation. This decision was endorsed by both the NUS and Cardiff University, and was made in consultation with legal advisors.
Student media at Cardiff has reacted positively to the decision, with Cardiff’s TV and radio stations having resumed programming on Wednesday, and Gair Rhydd’s next issue coming out next week. Michael O’Connell-Davidson, the Editor of Gair Rhydd said he “couldn’t be happier” about the decision.
