§ (as amended by Commons Amendments to which the Lords have agreed)
§
[Nos. 1–4]
After Clause 2, insert the following new clause:
§ Freedom of the press
§ ("After section 1 of the principal Act there shall be inserted the following section:—
§ "Charter on freedom of the press
§ 1A.— (1) If, before the end of the period of twelve months beginning with the passing of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Amendment) Act 1975, there is agreed among parties including employers of journalists, or employers' associations representing such employers, editors or editors' organisations, and trade unions representing journalists, a charter containing practical guidance for employers, trade unions, editors and other journalists on matters relating to the freedom of the press, the Secretary of State shall lay before both Houses of Parliament a draft of that charter.
§ (2) For the purposes of subsection (I) above, matters relating to the freedom of the press include
- (a) The rights of editors and other persons exercising editorial responsibilities to discharge their duties free from any obligation to join a trade union;
- (b) the rights of journalists to join a trade union of their choice;
- (c) the rights of editors to commission, publish or not to publish any article free from pressure by industrial action;
- (d) the rights of journalists not to be arbitrarily or unreasonably excluded or expelled from membership of a trade union.
§ (3) If no such charter has been agreed as mentioned in subsection (I) above, the Secretary of State shall, after consultation with the Press Council and such of the parties referred to in that subsection, such organisations representing workers, and such organisations representing employers, as he thinks fit, prepare in draft a charter containing rules of conduct designed to secure the rights mentioned in subsection (2) above together with such other matters as may have been agreed among the parties mentioned in subsection (1) hereof, and shall lay the draft before both Houses of Parliament.
§ (4) If a draft laid under subsection (1) or (3) above is approved by resolution of 1690 each House of Parliament, the Secretary of State shall issue the charter in the form of the draft.
§ (5) A charter agreed as mentioned in subsection (1) above, or prepared by the Secretary of State in accordance with subsection (3) above, may be revised from time to time by agreement between such parties as are referred to in subsection (I) above, and the Secretary of State shall lay a draft of the revised chatter before both Houses of Parliament.
§ (6) If a draft laid under subsection (5)above is approved by resolution of each House of Parliament, the Secretary of State shall issue the revised charter in the form of the draft.
§ (7) On issuing a charter or revised charter under subsection (4) or (6)above the Secretary of State shall make by statutory instrument an order specifying the date on which the charter or revised charter is to come into effect.
§ (8) No criminal proceedings shall lie against any person on account of a contravention of the charter but the obligation to comply with the charter is a duty owed to any person who may be affected by a contravention of it and any breach of that duty by industrial action or otherwise is actionable accordingly subject to the defences and other incidents applying to actions for breach of statutory duty.
§
(9) In this section—
"article" means any matter printed or intended for printing or broadcast or intended for broadcasting by television or radio;
§ "industrial action" means—
- (a) a concerted stoppage of work by a group of workers, whether (in the case of all or any of those workers) the stoppage is or is not in breach of their terms and conditions of employment and whether it is carried on during or on the termination of their employment, or
- (b) any concerted course of conduct whoch—
- (i)is carried on by a group of workers with the intention of preventing, reducing or otherwise interfering with the production of goods or the provision of services, and
- (ii) in the case of some or all of then:, is carried on in breach of their contracts of employment or (where they are not employees) in breach of their terms and conditions of service.".")