Friday 5 August 2011

'I'm strike breaking': Read all about it on facebook


If you are going to be strike breaking perhaps it would be wise not to post about it on facebook where the strikers can read your thoughts.

NUJ organiser Lawrence Shaw has jumped at the chance to repost on his Collective Invective blog some of the facebook comments of two students who the union claim are crossing the picket lines at Johnston Press-owned South Yorkshire Newspapers, where journalists are on an indefinite strike over job cuts and office closures, to help out the editorial department.

Grist to the mill is the fact that one of the students is said to be Tom Bills, son of the SYN md John Bills.

Among Tom Bills' comments, according to Shaw, are:“workin in a newsroom in doncaster, av been for a couple of weeks! Its reaaaaalllly goood! ;) x” and “sooooo bored at work I've actually started look at the clock more than my computer screen!”.

Shaw says on his blog: "I have often wondered what goes through the mind of people who willingly and openly cross trade union picket lines to replace striking staff. Now, thanks to the miracle of social media and a lax attitude to privacy settings, the 24 NUJ members about to enter their fourth week of indefinite strike action against South Yorkshire Newspapers group now know what the scabs are thinking and saying."

He adds: "There’s more on there if you're quick. If the boys eventually clock on to this and change their privacy settings so the entire world can’t see their facebook status updates, then contact us for the multitudinous screengrabs we have saved for posterity."

No comments: