The NUJ is proposing to sell its London headquarters and share new offices with the broadcasting union Bectu to reduce costs and increase efficiency, Press Gazette has learned.
A document marked confidential from the union’s ruling National Executive Council, titled Building for the Future, recommends that the union sells its Headland House building on Grays Inn Road to raise £1m in capital gains and make an extra £150,000 available for union funds.
Savings will be made through heat and light payments and sharing some staff and facilities.
Large savings
Merging the union’s Manchester office with Bectu’s could also save about £20,000 a year, the document says, and a closer partnership is possible in Wales, where Bectu has an office.
The project has been ‘unanimously endorsed’by the Bectu National Executive. Bectu has a membership of 26,000 compared to the NUJ’s 37,000, and employs 48 full-time staff.
A third organisation – the General Federation of Trade Unions, which proves training to unions – would also be housed in the new building.
The report warns that the ‘political reality’of a future Conservative government – and more punitive union regulation – would place ‘severe pressures on both unions”.
‘We must aim to have a sound asset base and ensure we maximise income and improve efficiency. This project will help us achieve those aims,’the document said.
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