The union works with a wide range of organisations and groups to promote important issues including media freedom, the rights of journalists, workers' rights and for social justice at home and internationally.
Much of this work is done in a supportive capacity and does not require affiliation to the organisation.
Affiliation creates a more formal role for the union in the a number of organisations, including the right to send delegates to their meetings. The process of affiliation depends on the work of the organisation.
Affiliation to campaigns that promote the principles of press freedom and workers' rights is democratically decided by delegates at the union's annual conference. Affiliation to all other organisations and campaigns is subject to a ballot of the NUJ's membership.
Current affiliations
The NUJ is an active affiliate of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Scottish TUC, Wales TUC and the Irish Congress of Trades Unions. These federations bring together trade unions from across different industries to campaign for policies and legislation on worker's rights, employment law, equality matters, media issues, peace and social justice. Union members are also actively involved in many local trades union councils in the UK and in Ireland.
The NUJ is also affiliated to the Federation of Entertainment Unions, an umbrella group for unions working in the media and entertainment industries.
The union belongs to campaigning organisations such as the Institute of Employment Rights, the British Copyright Council and we also work with broad-based campaigning groups such as Liberty and Amnesty International.
As part of the union's commitment to promote high standards in media and journalism, the union is represented on the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) and engages with Creative Skillset, the skills organisation for the broadcasting industry.
Current international affiliations
The NUJ is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which brings together more than 600,000 journalists worldwide to promote media freedom and ethical standards in media. The IFJ lobbies at the European Union, United Nations and other international bodies for the rights of journalists and media plurality.
The NUJ is also an active member of the European Federation of Journalists, which lobbies on copyright, labour rights and other key issues affecting journalists across Europe.
Internationally, journalists are persecuted for their work and basic media freedoms are denied. The union works with our partners to help highlight abuses of media freedom.
The union is an active affiliate of Amnesty International with the aim of raising issues that affect members, both as journalists and citizens.
Trade unionists in many countries also face a denial of the basic freedoms of association. The union works with Justice for Colombia and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign to highlight the abuse of basic human rights related to those countries.
