Trouble at Peace News

[Fozzie Bear]

Looks like all the staff have resigned in protest at their treatment by the Peace News Trustees.

Entire Peace News staff resign in protest over 'tidal wave of intimidation, harassment and threats' from parent company | Peace News

peacenews.info

I wasn't an avid reader but it looks like a right old mess. The same trustees also hold sway over the excellent Housmans bookshop, which I have been an enthusiastic visitor of for 37 years.

 

[MickiQ]

The irony, it burns

 

[Rob Ray]

Freedom's done a news article with the PNT's response, and a Collective statement:

Trustees should not be bosses: A note on the crisis at Peace News - Freedom News

A Trust holding assets for a radical progressive organisation is there to serve -- not to act as jury or boss to the workforce from positions of assumed authority

freedomnews.org.uk

 

[PTK]

Looks like all the staff have resigned in protest at their treatment by the Peace News Trustees.

Entire Peace News staff resign in protest over 'tidal wave of intimidation, harassment and threats' from parent company | Peace News

peacenews.info

I wasn't an avid reader but it looks like a right old mess. The same trustees also hold sway over the excellent Housmans bookshop, which I have been an enthusiastic visitor of for 37 years.

It would be a big blow if Housman's closed.

 

[TopCat]

It would be a big blow if Housman's closed.

Big payout for the trustees

 

[stethoscope]

Reached Camden New Journal..

War and peace in bitter row at pacifists’ paper

Staff walk out at Peace News claiming cost-cutting pressure and print secret supplement

www.camdennewjournal.co.uk

 

[Larry O'Hara]

All very sad: and to lose Housmans would be catastrophic

 

[Pickman's model]

I've known pnt were shits of the vilest sort for many years but this is low even for them

 

[PTK]

I've known pnt were shits of the vilest sort for many years but this is low even for them

Who or what is the Peace News Trust, and in what way did you know that they were no good for some years?

 

[Rob Ray]

The Trust owns the building (and apparently things like the Peace News brand name and such) and acts as the formal employer of the editorial group. It's not uncommon in progressive circles, the idea is to provide continuity and support for the project and protect assets in case the worst happens.

A fair number of ex-Peace House types say the PNT is a mix of a bit useless and in some cases reckon they know better/should be in charge while having no real grounds to think so.

 

[ska invita]

Freedom's done a news article with the PNT's response, and a Collective statement:

Trustees should not be bosses: A note on the crisis at Peace News - Freedom News

A Trust holding assets for a radical progressive organisation is there to serve -- not to act as jury or boss to the workforce from positions of assumed authority

freedomnews.org.uk

Excellent statement. The structural role of Trustees is 'fascinating'... a seemingly unaccountable class. From my understanding in charities there are strong rules of governance about what Trustees can do or not, but those rules melt away in a private business / limited company.

There's an important lesson here about building accountability into the structure so that an organisation can survive over time. I'm not sure what the solution is. Can anyone point to a better model?

I would say the workers co-op model, but then look at what happened to workers coop Zed Books - the workers who inherited it/found themselves working there (and were therefore also owners) chose to sell it to another publisher and cashed in massive sums for themselves off the back of decades of work done by other people.

 

[Rob Ray]

Freedom has trustees of the building in the form of a dormant company, with their formal constitution stating that they only exist to support Freedom Press. Which means as long as Freedom continues to publish as an extant group, and there's enough money around to cover things like the business rates, their criteria are met. They have no formal role in any other aspect of the group, and thus no formal power to order people about. We've had occasional disputes (eg. when we had a big bill come in a while back and the Friends were concerned that it couldn't be covered) but they could never have just walked in and said to anyone "we're in charge, do as we say."

 

[ska invita]

Freedom has trustees of the building in the form of a dormant company, with their formal constitution stating that they only exist to support Freedom Press. Which means as long as Freedom continues to publish as an extant group, and there's enough money around to cover things like the business rates, their criteria are met. They have no formal role in any other aspect of the group, and thus no formal power to order people about. We've had occasional disputes (eg. when we had a big bill come in a while back and the Friends were concerned that it couldn't be covered) but they could never have just walked in and said to anyone "we're in charge, do as we say."

Is Freedom a subsidiary of the Trustees? Who owns the building?

 

[Rob Ray]

Is Freedom a subsidiary of the Trustees? Who owns the building?

I said above - the trustees own the building but with the sole task of supporting Freedom Press. They have no formal role in Freedom otherwise.