PREFACE

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) is arguably South Asia’s first association representing the journalists of an entire country. To its credit, since its inception in 1950, it has always stood out as a symbol of freedom of speech. It’s struggles for press freedom and for a democratic dispensation in the country will always remain etched in the collective memory of Pakistanis.

 

To this day, PFUJ remains committed to the ideals for which it was established, to work towards a better working environment for Pakistani journalists, it didn’t remain isolated from the struggles and campaigns launched by the civil society. In fact, it was in the vanguard whenever sacrifices needed to be made and freedoms were to be won.

 

PFUJ’s constitution was adopted at the Pakistan Working Journalists Convention, which was held in Karachi in April of 1950. Delegates from home as well as from abroad took part in the event which paved the ground for the establishment of PFUJ. The historic event was opened by the-then foreign minister of the country, Chaudhry Zaffarullah Khan. The PFUJ and the affiliated UJs are run in accordance with this constitution and the guidelines of the Federal Executive Council from time to time. This constitution has been continually amended by the BDM to cope with the new challenges and situations from time to time.

Some significant history of amendments in the PFUJ constitution is as follows,

This Constitution was adopted at the Pakistan Working Journalists convention, which was held in Karachi from April 23 to April 30, 1950. Delegates of the Sindh Union of Journalists and the Punjab Union of Journalists attended the convention, which was opened by Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister. The Frontier Union of Journalists, which could not send a delegate in time declared its readiness to accept the constitution adopted at the Convention. The inauguration of the Convention, which was attended by observers from the Delhi Union of Journalists and many distinguished visitors, including Ministers and members of the Diplomatic Corps was filmed. Messrs. M.A. Shakoor (President, SUJ), Israr Ahmad, (General Secretary), Tufail Ahmad Jamali (Senior Vice President) and Ashkar Hussain Khawaja attended the Convention as the sub delegates. Messrs. S.H. Lewis (President, PUJ) Muhammad Shafi (General Secretary) and Ghayural Islam attended as delegates of the PUJ. Fourth delegates of the PUJ could not be present. Mr. S.R. Lewis was elected Chairman of the Convention and Mr. Israr Ahmad Secretary.

At five consecutive sittings of the Convention, the draft constitution was discussed in detail, article-by-article and passed after making certain amendments.

The draft constitution was drawn up by small subcommittee appointed by the SUJ Executive Council and was adopted after necessary amendment by the SUJ Executive Council. Copies of this final draft were sent in advance to the PUJ and the FUJ. This Constitution, in Appendix A, Rule 1, provides that the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists shall come into existence on the day this Constitution is ratified by two provincial Unions as they exist now. The Sindh Union of Journalists, at its Annual General Meeting held on May 7, 1950 ratified the Constitution. The Frontier Union of Journalists ratified the Constitution on August 2, 1950. Thus, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists formally came into existence on August 2, 1950. Subsequently, the Punjab Union of Journalists ratified it on August 24, 1950.

The Constitution of the Federal Union of Journalists was amended at the Annual Delegates Meeting held respectively on February 16, 1952 at Lahore, October 12, 1953 at Karachi and October 24, 1957, at Dacca, in 1973 at Karachi, 1975 at Lahore and 1985 at Lahore. The Constitution was again amended during the Biennial Delegates Meetings held in Lahore in March, 2007, March 2009 in Faisalabad, March 2011 in Islamabad, October 2013 in Karachi.

In November 2018 in Lahore BDM, a four-member committee comprising President KUJ Hassan Abbas, PFUJ Coordinator Ihtsham-ul-haq, President PUJ Shahzad Hussain Butt and President RIUJ Shakil Ahmad proposed amendments which were unanimously approved by the BDM and made part of the PFUJ constitution forthwith. Besides other amendments, the number of PFUJ Executive & FEC members have been increased to cater the increasing number of affiliated unions while a special quota for women is fixed following the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) advice.

Amendments to the PFUJ Constitution unanimously made in Nov. 2018 BDM meeting at Lahore

1. For the election of PFUJ or any UJ, no delegate or member will be eligible to contest the election as an individual (independent) on a particular post but the delegate or member who wishes to contest the election will have to form a full panel. This shall also apply to all affiliated UJs of PFUJ.

 

2. Affiliated UJs of PFUJ will not be entitled to waive the fees of any member. However, with the approval of the Executive Council of PFUJ, the fees will be reduced to some extent but no UJ will have this option automatically.

 

3. The election committee for the election of UJs shall be formed one month before the scheduled election.

 

4. The existing clause for the General Council is also being scrapped under which the General Council is convened one month before the election of the UJs. Now the concerned UJs will be able to fix the time frame as per their convenience.

 

5. UJs will be required to collect their annual fee up to two months before their election and send their contribution to PFUJ along with their list.
6. Before any voter list is sent to the Secretary General PFUJ, it will be signed by both the President and the Secretary of the concerned UJs.
7. All the new membership forms (original) will be sent to PFUJ while its photo

copy will remain with the concerned UJ.

8. On the direction of IFJ, bloggers and digital news related people will be given the membership of the relevant UJ with approval of PFUJ and preference will be given to Women.
9. To strengthen the women role, the PFUJ and each UJ will have additionally one seat for a woman Vice President and one seat for women Joint Secretary but there shall be no restrictions on women members to contest for President or any other general seat. Moreover, to cater the increasing number of affiliated UJs, number of Vice Presidents and assistant secretary General is increased from four to eight (two from each province), in addition to a secretary information. Furthermore, one additional Vice President and one Assistant Secretary General seat will be elected from RIUJ. The Vice Presidents along with Assistant Secretary Generals of each province shall look after the affairs of the UJs in their respective Province. They shall be answerable to the President and Secretary General.

 

10. If any concerned UJ has any objection on the voter list and any other issue in the election and the matter is important, then PFUJ can intervene in it till Election Day for reform and PFUJ will also have the power to stop the election. The date of election will be announced by PFUJ in consultation with the concerned UJ.
11. All affiliated UJs of PFUJ will now send their annual budget report to PFUJ which will be approved in BDM.
12. In case of any negative campaign against the PFUJ or its affiliated UJs and their officials on social media such as YouTube channels, websites, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.; the membership of the concerned member can be terminated at the level of UJ.
13. The Executive council of UJ can immediately suspend membership on a serious complaint against a member, after which a reply will be sought from that member within seven days.
14. A member of the Union will have to bring the affairs of the Union to its respective forum. The affairs of the Union will not be channeled in the court.
15. A five-member core committee shall be nominated which shall be approved by the FEC. It will have advisory position to FEC on issues of common interests.

Amendments made in BDM held on Feb 2022 in Lahore

Following amendments were proposed by a five member committee headed by Hassan Abbas, to make the constitution simplified and more democratic. The amendments were put up in the PFUJ AGM/BDM held on Feb 11-12, 2022 in Lahore and unanimously passed to be inducted in the PFUJ constitution.

ARTICLE 2                            FEDERAL AFFILIATED UNIONS RULE

1 a. The PFUJ shall approve affiliation to a union as its member which agrees to federate with it, in accordance with this constitution.

1. Affiliated unions may be formed in any District where there are not less than 20 potential full members employed with at least one daily Newspaper, or TV channel. A union to the other contiguous area to the district where there are not less than eight members, may be treated as regional union and associated to one centrally affiliated union, with the consent of the majority of the full members of concerned union.

Classification of Membership of affiliated Unions

Note: If any journalist qualifies for the membership of the PFUJ affiliated union otherwise, then the minimum age limit should not be a hindrance. To strengthen the Union and increase number of members in post Corona regime, full time journalistic staff condition is relaxed. The junior member category is replaced with Cadet Member category for those who do not fall under full member qualification and for Mass Com students of final years.

RULE 3 (a) Full members: Any Persons shall be eligible for full membership who have been full time/ part time members of journalistic staff/ as free-lancer journalist for not less than one year or have been for not less than one year on their own journalistic works provided that they are not proprietors of any newspapers, electronic media, TV Channels directors or Managing Editors.

(b) Cadet Members. A person who has not completed one year in the journalistic profession or is a student of final year in Mass Comm Degree will be given membership under this category. They will be promoted to Full member category on fulfilling the conditions mentioned in clause (a) above.

Note: Young journalists are to be introduced in the Executive Council of affiliated unions

 

Article 6     Rule 1-a

Posts for four women VP and four women assistant secretary from each province and one each from RIUJ are created in PFUJ Federal Executive Council to give maximum representation to the women members. Number of FEC members will be increased to thirty-five.

Rule 1-b

The numbers of FEC members, the President in consultation with the Secretary General may nominate…. is replaced “from not more than five to not more than ten”.

Article 8    Rule 1-a

The entitlement of the affiliated union with less than 3 hundred full members to elect one BDM delegate for every 20 full members is withdrawn. Now every affiliated union is entitled to elect one delegate for every 50 full members on their rolls.

Save: If a union has its number of members less than 50, it can elect one BDM delegate. If a union has more than 50 but less than 100 members it can elect an additional member provided it has at least 25 members in addition to the 50 members.

Article 13 Rule 1 f. Every Executive Council of the affiliated union shall have a President, two vice presidents, one female VP, a General Secretary, two joint secretaries, a female joint secretary, a Treasurer, a Secretary Information and ten members, two of which shall be from young members.

Article 16             Rule 1/ a President will be the organizational head of the PFUJ. He shall preside the meetings of the FEC. In his absence, a senior vice President or Vice President shall officiate his duties.

Rule 1/b. Vice Presidents and joint secretary in different provinces shall be responsible for the activities of the affiliated unions of the respective province and to implement the PFUJ decisions. They will be answerable to the PFUJ President and Secretary General. Save: One VP and Joint Secretary may be appointed for one part of the province while the other VP and joint secretary will look after the rest part of that province.

Rule 1/c. Woman VP and woman joint secretary will look after the women wing of the PFUJ and the affiliated Unions in the respective province.

Rule 1/d. The PFUJ VP and joint secretary from RIUJ shall look after activities of RIUJ and affiliated Unions from AJK.

Article 17 Rule 1.   Annual membership Fee Rule 2 Cadet Members

Cadet member shall pay no membership fee or annual subscription.

Rule 4 Admission Fee Every member at the time of admission shall pay rupees 500/- as admission fee, but in the case of cadet members, there will be no fee.

 

 

Article-22           

Rule-7                   Disciplinary Committee

A disciplinary committee comprising senior members shall be formed to probe into any illegal act of any affiliated union or a member of FEC.

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Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists    

Rana Muhammad Azeem (President PFUJ)

Shakeel Ahmad (Sec. Gen. PFUJ)

Feb 20, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTICLE 1            TITLE AND OBJECTIVES

RULE 1                   TITLE OF UNION

The organization is a trade union of working journalists from Print and Electronic media of Pakistan and it will be called “Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists” here after referred as ‘PFUJ”.

 

RULE 2                   OBJECTIVES of the PFUJ

The Objectives of the PFUJ shall be; –

• To raise the status and improve the qualification of all the members of the PFUJ.
• To promote generally the interests of the member journalists and journalism in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashtu, Balochi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Gujrati, Saraiki or any other language spoken in Pakistan.
• To act for its members for the purpose of protecting their legitimate rights pertaining to wages and conditions of service.
• To provide protection to the members in the event of a trade dispute.
• To help unity of all workers of the media industry in Pakistan, by all means, including affiliations with trade unions of media industry workers except rival trade unions formed to disrupt the unity of the working journalists.
• To promote the cause of the working class in general and to enter into affiliations provided they are not with a political party.
• To assist members, where necessary, in security employment.
• To ascertain the law and practice relating to journalism and to promote where necessary, new or emending legislation designed to assist journalists in their professional duties.
• To protect the interests of the members when, according to the Federal Executive Council, they are being wrongly dealt with for any act in the discharge of their professional duties.
• To exercise supervision over its members when engaged in professional duties and to deal with the question affecting their professional conducts.
• To maintain and administer unemployment, benevolent, superannuation, death benefit and other funds.
• To publish an official journal during the favorable conditions.
• To defend maintain and struggle for the freedom of press.
• To create a website for the promotion of the objectives of the PFUJ and awareness amongst the journalist community both at home and abroad.
• To set up a permanent secretariat at Federal Capital and employee paid staff to run it as per rules, bylaws framed by the FEC as and when required.
• To seek aid and make linkage with international & national bodies especially belonging to the journalists for the cause its members.
• To hold/conduct on its own or with the help/assistance of reputed organization programs for training of journalists in various fields of journalism and trade unionism.
• To hold/ conduct workshops, seminars, symposiums, in any form as per modern gadgets for promotion of the cause of the journalism.
• To enter any agreement with any organization both at national and international levels for furtherance/fulfillment of the objectives of the PFUJ.
• To hire, build and enter any deed / deal for its secretariat at Federal Capital and other place as and when required.
• To make an emboss stamp of the PFUJ for affixation on agreement/ deeds.
• To establish library, reading room and other conveniences and to provide for the recreation and incitation of the affiliated unions, FEC members and dignitaries.
• To secure the services of technical experts to supervise, control, manage and develop all or any of the PFUJ pursuits.
• To open, maintain, adjust state and close accounts with banks of every description and to do all acts necessary for the purpose.
• To invest money in hands of PFUJ in such manner as FEC deem it.
• Generally, to do all such things as may appear to be incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects or any of them.
• To acquire on lease or otherwise, erect, construct, layout, enlarge, alter, demolish, maintain, or repair any land and/or building and to do all other things or works necessary and convenient for the purpose of the PFUJ.

RULE 3

The registered office of the PFUJ shall be in the Federal Capital. The working office may be located in any such provincial city, as the Federal Executive Council may decide in order to suit the convenience of the Secretary General of the PFUJ.

 

ARTICLE 2                            FEDERAL AFFILIATED UNIONS

RULE 1

1. The PFUJ shall approve affiliation to unions as its member which agrees to federate with it, in accordance with this constitution.

 

1. The constitution of the union is supreme. If any affiliated union adopts its own constitution, it must be in conformity with the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution. The constitution of an affiliated union shall be enforced only after it has been ratified by the FEC. The amendments, if any, shall also be subject to the ratification by the FEC.

 

1. Affiliated unions may be formed in any District where there are not less than 20 potential full members employed with at least one daily Newspaper, or TV channel. A union to the other contiguous area to the district where there are not less than eight members, may be treated as regional union and associated to one centrally affiliated union, with the consent of the majority of the full members of concerned union.

 

1. Working journalists living outside Pakistan and working for Pakistani newspapers and electronic media can also get PFUJ associate membership. Ad-hoc overseas units can be formed after completing the requirements mentioned in article III-C. The associate members are not eligible for voting.

 

ARTICLE 3                            CLASSIFICATION of MEMBERSHIP of UNIONS

RULE 1

Subject to the other relevant rules of this Constitution, membership of the union is open to all journalists working in Pakistan whether employed by Pakistani or foreign Newspapers, electronic media, TV news channels or media organizations as well as electronic media and journalists employed by Pakistani concerns but working outside Pakistan provided that working journalists of non-Pakistani nationality are eligible for Associate membership only.

RULE 2

Every member of the PFUJ shall be enrolled as a member of the respective affiliated unions and no member shall remain a member of more than one affiliated union at the same time. Transfer of membership from one union to another when such transfer is necessitated, shall be affected in accordance with the provisions of Rules of this constitution.

RULE 3

Note: If any journalist qualifies for the membership of the PFUJ affiliated union otherwise, then the minimum age limit should not be a hindrance. To strengthen the Union and increase number of members in post Corona regime, full time journalistic staff condition is relaxed.

The junior member category shall be replaced with Cadet Member category for those who do not fall under full member qualification and for Mass Comm. students of final year.

 

Membership shall be of four categories; –

• Full members:

Any Person shall be eligible for full membership who have been full time/ part time members of journalistic staff/ as free-lancer journalist for not less than one year or have been for not less than one year on their own journalistic works provided that they are not proprietors of any newspapers, electronic media, TV Channels directors or Managing Editors.

 

• Cadet Members. A person who has not completed one year in the journalistic profession or is a student of final year in Mass Comm. Degree will be given membership under this category. They will be promoted to Full member category on fulfilling the conditions mentioned in clause (a) above.

 

Note: Young journalists are introduced in the Executive Council of affiliated unions

 

(c)           Associate members:

Persons who are proprietors, editor or managing editors of Pakistani language media groups, or persons of non-Pakistani nationality or persons working on the staff of periodicals other than weeklies.

(d)                          Life Members

Members who retire from work on account of age or remit or who have done outstanding service to the profession of journalism or the union may be given life membership by the executive council.

EXPLAINATION:

1. Managing Editors will mean and include all editors who have and exercise the power in their own right of making appointments, as well as ordering promotions and dismissals of working journalists under their employers who exercise control over, or are held responsible for the finances of the newspapers, electronic media or news agencies.

 

2. Nothing stated in sub rule a, b and c above shall disqualify a journalist from being a full member merely because he holds equivalent to that of a director of a board, or the executive of the governing body of a newspaper, periodical or news organization as well as electronic media run by journalists on cooperative equalitarian lines, unless he is also invested with exclusive power to appoint and to dismiss a journalist.

 

RULE 4                 Journalistic staff                              

Journalistic staff means and includes the journalistic staff of dailies, news and news weeklies, news agencies, news monthlies, digital media, news TV channels and FM radio (News).

 

RULE 5                 Working Journalist

Working Journalists will mean members of journalistic staff and freelance journalists who depend on journalism fully/ partially as their only professional means of living. They will include reporters, cameramen and photographers employed by journalistic organizations of Print and Electronic media as fulltime employees. It also included electronic media and news producers, associate producer news, assistance producer news, news anchors, copy writer, script writer, content writer, cameraman, controller news & director news but will not include those journalists employed or drawing their salaries from any government department and fall under category of Civil servants or Armed forces

RULE 6                  Weeklies

A.

A weekly as defined in Rule 4 of which at least seven ordinary issues are not published during any eight consecutive weeks, shall not be regarded as a weekly. It shall be held in suspension after four weeks of its cessation of publications and shall not be revived until four weeks after its resumption of publication.

It shall be obligatory on members concerned to intimate to their affiliated unions when their weekly papers ceased to be weeklies or when they cease their publication within the meaning of rule 6 A above and the affiliated unions shall there upon notify this to the FEC.

RULE 7                  Full Membership disqualification

1. A full member who becomes a member of an exclusive organization as well as electronic media organization of editors or proprietor-editors shall be disqualified to be a full member of the PFUJ but associate membership will be open to them.
2. A full member who is unemployed for one year shall become an associate member and if an associate member is unemployed for one year shall cease to be a member, provided that full members who lose employment due to the arbitrary closure of a newspaper or due to a dispute with an employer shall remain member, during the pendency of the case or otherwise, for a period to be determined by the executive of their affiliated unions after six months. Those who return to the profession of journalism after losing membership will be enrolled as full member, right from the beginning of their new job.

 

ARTICLE  4                           Rights of MEMBERS

Rule 1                   Full member eligible to vote and hold office

• Full members are entitled to attend, address and vote at any General Meeting Biennial or Extra ordinary, as well as their own Regional Union and are eligible to hold office in the Union. Only those members shall be entitled for right of vote who have completed one full year from the approval of membership in the UJs.
•                        Cadet members entitled to attend meeting

Cadet members shall be entitled to attend and speak at the General meeting of the Union or regional Union but shall not be entitled to move resolution or vote at any of their meetings, nor  they are qualified to hold any office.

•                        Associate members entitlement

Associate members shall not be entitled to attend the biennial general Meeting of an affiliated union nor vote at any election of office bearers or delegates. They are entitled to attend extra ordinary general meeting of their affiliated unions or regional unions, if those meetings are called to deal with matters other than remuneration, hours and shall working conditions of journalists and question affecting constitution. They are not eligible for election to the executive bodies of the Central, affiliated or regional unions or any other body entrusted with executive functions.

• Life members are not eligible for election to any executive of central, affiliated or regional union but are entitled to attend and speak at any general body meeting of the affiliated union but have no right of vote.
• Full members after giving seven days to the office-bearers concerned shall have the right to see not more than once a month the membership registers, minutes of the General Meetings and the accounts of the union, but not files of the central Union or of their respective Union.

 ARTICLE 5          ENROLEMENT OF MEMBERS IN AFFILIATED UNIONS

1. Every application for membership shall be in writing on the form approved by the FEC, which shall be signed by a current full member proposer & seconder. It shall be accompanied by the first installment of annual subscription plus admission membership fee. The form shall be in duplicate or triplicate according to as enrolment is made by an affiliated union or a regional union. One of the forms will be retained by the regional/ affiliated union office and one form be forwarded to the PFUJ secretariat. All the new membership forms (original) will be sent to PFUJ while its photo copy will remain with the concerned UJ.
2. No applicant shall be deemed to be a member until confirmed by the Executive Council of the Affiliated Union concerned. The Executive Council will be authorized to reject if it is found that the information provided in the application form is not correct or the applicant may revoke it at any time.
3. Any dispute regarding the qualification or fitness of any person for any class of membership shall be decided by the Executive Council of the Affiliated Union and its decision shall prevail until a decision is taken by the FEC on appeal by the person, which shall be final.
4. A member of the Union will have to bring the affairs of the Union to its respective forum. The affairs of the Union will not be channeled in the court.
5. A cadet member, on completion of his qualification period, shall be automatically transferred to full membership provided no arrears of subscription are outstanding against him.
6. A member who ceases to be eligible for full membership shall be transferred to his appropriate class or cease to be a member.
7. An applicant for membership shall ordinarily seek membership of the affiliated union in which he is working provided that a member who has been residing or expects to continue his residence in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Karachi or Lahore for not less than six months shall have the option of to enroll himself as a member of the union of his residence of the Centre or his newspaper & electronic media.
8. If a member is transferred from one media Centre to another, he shall continue to be a member of his original affiliated union for six months during which period he shall have membership in the visiting newspaper or electronic media Centre except voting at an election or by-election. On the expiry of this period of six months, he shall become a member of the visiting media Centre. Should a member be transferred permanently from one affiliated union or back and does not wish to retain his membership of the previous union and applies for full membership in the union to which he is transferred, he will be enrolled forthwith as a full member by the executive council of the union concerned. If no decision is taken by the said executive within two months of the receipt of application, it will be deemed to have been approved.
9. All transfers shall be notified by the affiliated union concerned to the PFUJ and to the union of media Centre to which transfer is made.

 

 

ARTICLE 6                            FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

RULE 1                                  FORMATION OF FEC

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) which is the executive of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) shall consist of the following,

1. A President, four female Vice President (one from each province), Eight male Vice Presidents (two from each province), a Secretary General, eight Assistant Secretary Generals (two from each province), four female Assistant Secretary General (one from each province), a Treasurer, a Secretary Information and thirty-five members of FEC, all shall be elected. In addition, a VP and an Assistant Secretary General (men & women) shall also be elected from RIUJ.

 

1. The President in consultation with the Secretary General may nominate not more than ten members of FEC, only in order to give representation to any media Centre or language group or interest, which has not secured representation in the FEC through General Election.
2. Besides this, the Presidents and General Secretaries of the affiliated Unions shall be ex-officio members with full voting rights.

 

RULE 2                  Restriction on Office Bearers

No member shall hold the same office in the PFUJ or affiliated unions consecutively for more than two terms, nor shall any member hold two offices simultaneously, that of the affiliated UJ or the PFUJ.

Amendment: (BDM 2025). An office bearer after two consecutive terms shall have to take break before contesting for next election.

RULE 3 Election of FEC members

Office bearers and members of the FEC shall be elected at the “Delegates meeting” and shall hold office for the following two years which will constitute one term of FEC members.

Furthermore, the elections and bye-elections will be governed by separate rules appended to this constitution. If the FEC fails to announce the elections schedule one month before the expiry of its term or fails to hold the election in time, any eight affiliated union’s executive council may requisite the delegates meeting for holding the election and exercise the power of FEC to issue the schedule for the election. Save, the FEC may delay elections up to six months due to some extraordinary circumstances.

RULE 4                  Filling of vacant FEC seats

1. If any member of the FEC excluding the office bearers goes out of the office, the FEC shall fill the seat by co-option.
2. If more than two and less than half of the members, excluding the President and Secretary General, go out of the office, “special delegates” elected by the affiliated unions shall elect by means of postal voting the requisite number of members to fill the vacancies. Members nominated by the FEC to fill previous vacancies shall vacate office and their seats shall be filled in the manner contained herein.

Explanation: In calculating the number of vacancies, seats filled in by the nomination shall be included.

1. If half or more than half of the elected members of the FEC vacate office, excluding the President and Secretary General, a special delegates’ meeting as provided for in Article 7 rule 2 shall be held to elect the entire FEC, excluding the President and the secretary General.

 

 

1. Filling of Vacant seats of President or Secretary General

If the President and /or the Secretary General vacate office, special delegates shall elect President and/ or Secretary General by means of postal voting with in a period of six weeks of the office or the offices having fallen vacant.

1. The order of precedence

The order of precedence of the elected Vice Presidents and Assistant Secretary Generals shall be determined by the number of votes they received at the delegates meeting or at a bye-election, as the case may be. In case of a tie, the order of precedence shall be decided by the casting vote of the President.

RULE 5                  FEC Meetings

The FEC shall meet ordinarily as and when necessary, provided that at least two meetings, physical or virtual, shall be held in a year.

1. Validity of FEC MEETINGS

No meeting of the FEC shall be constitutional and valid;

1. Unless it is called by the Secretary General or by one of the Assistant Secretary General with the approval in writing of the Secretary General, in either case in consultation with and with the approval of the President
2. Unless the meeting is presided over by the President, or in case of his absence by one of the Vice Presidents in accordance with the precedence.

iii.  Unless individual invitations with the agenda of the meeting have been sent through recognized means of communication which include registered letter or letter through special courier, SMS, e-mail, fax or WhatsApp to all members and office bearers, allowing them not less than clear seven days. Provided that in the case of a meeting requisitioned under article VIII, if the Secretary or President refuses to convene a meeting, any fifteen members of the FEC, after explaining the circumstances, can jointly convene a meeting of the FEC at Karachi, Lahore or Rawalpindi/ Islamabad for which 2/3 of the members or office bearers of the FEC shall constitute the quorum and at which, in the absence of President or Vice presidents any other senior member may preside.

1. Provided also that in the case of an unforeseen emergency necessitating immediate action, an emergency meeting may be called by the Secretary General in consultation with the President, giving e-mail / fax/SMS/ WhatsApp intimation to members, where necessary, and allowing them not less than three clear days.
2. FEC                Regulation formation & Consent on circular
3. On question of a routine or procedural nature if it is not possible to hold a meeting of the FEC to take decision, the Secretary General in consultation with the President may seek the opinion of the members of the FEC, by circulating such question and the opinion of the majority obtained thus in writing shall be deemed to be the decision of the FEC.
4. Whenever the consideration of a formal resolution of protest, greetings etc. not involving any change of policy is necessitated by circumstances and if the President and the Secretary General deem it not feasible, to call a meeting of the FEC for that purpose, the Secretary General in consultation with the President may e-mail, fax, SMS, WhatsApp such resolution among the members of the FEC and if the resolution is approved by a majority of the FEC members, it shall be deemed to have been passed by the FEC.

iii.  Whenever the Secretary General makes a reference to, or circulates a resolution among the members of the FEC, under sub rule i & ii above, he may ask any office bearer of the FEC, in a media Centre, to obtain personally the views of other FEC members of the media Centre in writing and forward it to him. Such office bearers will cooperate with the Secretary General in such matters.

1. FEC shall be empowered to grant affiliation to any new UJs or renewal/revival of affiliation. FEC formulate rules and regulation for hiring, firing of the secretariat staff as well as regulations for conducting proceedings of any committee appointed by the FEC on various issues.

 

 

 

 

Article 7                                               POWERS OF THE FEC

Rule 1

The FEC shall have power to administer the affair and funds of the PFUJ in accordance with this Constitution and shall be subject only to the directions of the Delegates’ Meeting.

 

Rule 2

The FEC shall have power to determine any point not covered by the Constitution of the Central or affiliated Unions and to give a ruling on any disputed point of conflict between the Constitutions of the Federal and affiliated unions which can be over-ruled only by the Delegates’ Meeting.

Rule 3

The FEC shall have power to adjudicate on any matters of dispute in or between affiliated Unions and any award given by FEC shall be final and binding on the affiliated Unions concerned subject to revision by the Delegates’ Meeting on appeal. Rule 4 The FEC shall have power to issue directives to the affiliated Unions.

Rule 5

Where the FEC is satisfied that affiliated union has been persistently acting contrary to the provisions of this Constitution or against the interests of the PFUJ or has created such conditions in the Union in which normal functioning of the Union becomes impossible, the FEC may suspend or dissolve the Executive of the affiliated union concerned, appoint an ad-hoc committee to take charge of the Union pending fresh election for which the FEC shall make satisfactory arrangements.

Rule 6

If within three weeks after the biennial general elections of a media Centre, a memorandum signed by not less than fifty percent of the full member of the union received by the FEC alleging use of unfair means or malpractices by any section of or group in the union in order to influence the elections, or if the FEC is otherwise satisfied after full inquiries on the spot, that the elections concerned were not fare and free the FEC shall have power to order fresh elections within a month and to take necessary step for that purpose.

 

Rule 7

The FEC may institute legal proceedings in the name of the PFIJJ against any member or office-bearer who is suspected of embezzling funds or falsifying accounts of the PFUJ or the affiliated union.

Rule 8

The FEC shall have the right to examine the minutes and proceeding: of any Executive Council of an affiliated union or its accounts. The FEC is entitled to send one of its members as an observer to attend any of the meetings of any Executive Council or General Body Meetings of any affiliated Union and these observers may address the meetings but shall not vote.

Rule 9

The FEC shall have power to appoint a tribunal to settle a dispute between affiliated unions and the award of the tribunal, which shall be open to revision by the FEC on appeal, shall be binding on the union concerned.

Rule 10

When there is no clear provision in the Constitution on any particular matter, the FEC shall have power to act in its own discretion, which shall be subject to subsequent confirmation by the Delegates Meeting.

Rule 11

The FEC shall have power, subject to other provisions of this Constitution, to assign or fix the duties and responsibilities of any office-holder or member of the FEC or Lay member or members of any subcommittee appointed by it.

Rule 12

The FEC shall have power to formulate rules regarding procedure or any other matter for the guidance of affiliated Unions or members of the PFUJ, which can be over-ruled or repealed only by the Delegates’ Meeting of the PFUJ. Such Rules shall supersede rules framed by Executive Councils of affiliated unions under Article 17, Rule 7.

Rule 13

The FEC shall have power to formulate rules, Bylaws for the appointment of the Secretaries staff, Fixation of their salaries, allowances and benefits of service, termination, dismissal. Rules for disciplinary action, determination of the honorarium, traveling expenses for members of the FEC and Office Bearers of PFUJ.

ARTICLE 8                           DELEGATES MEETING

Rule- 1                  Session

The Delegates meeting shall constitute the plenary session of the PFUJ, which shall be held every two years and shall be constituted as follows;

1. ELECTION OF DELEGATES

Every affiliated union is entitled to elect one delegate for every 50 full members on their rolls as they existed on the voters list of the preceding year. The delegate shall be the full member of the concerned affiliated union.

Save: If a union has its number of members less than 50, it can elect one BDM delegate. If a union has more than 50 but less than 100 members it can elect an additional member provided it has at least 25 members in addition to the 50 members.

 

1. The delegates shall be elected by the members of the affiliated unions at their General Council meeting/ elections held not later than two months prior to the date fixed for the delegates Meeting/PFUJ elections. The names of the elected delegates their contact number, e-mail address, and postal address shall be intimated to the Secretary General of the PFUJ.

 

1. Date & schedule of Delegates Meeting

 

(i) The FEC shall decide the date and venue of the Delegates Meeting which as far as possible shall not be held in the same affiliated Union twice consecutively.

(ii) The FEC shall draw up the detailed schedule of the submission of the nomination papers, their scrutiny and election to the FEC and shall intimate to the Affiliated Unions and announce it publicly not later than one month prior to the date fixed for the Elections and two weeks may be assured to intending candidates to submit their nomination papers. The outgoing FEC shall stand till the date of election of the New FEC for next term.

 

1. Delegates meeting procedure

• The PFUJ President or any of the Vice Presidents shall preside over the opening session of the delegates meeting. The Secretary General will present performance report of the outgoing FEC and the Finance Secretary will present financial report of his tenure.
• A Presidium comprising three members (must be members of the delegates meeting) shall be announced to preside over the remaining sessions of the delegates meeting. If there is no unanimity about the choice of the presidium, election shall be made by ballot vote and the President or Vice President of the outgoing FEC shall conduct this election.
• The office bearers and members of the outgoing FEC are entitled to attend and address the Delegates Meeting and it shall be obligatory on the President, Secretary General and Treasurer to attend the delegates meeting and reply to questions, subject to the discretion of the Chair.
• Only delegates shall be entitled to vote or move any resolution in the meeting.
• Full members of the Affiliate Union hosting the delegates meeting are entitled to attend the meeting as visitors but are not entitled to participate in the proceedings of the meeting.
• Any amendments to the constitution of the PFUJ can be moved by a delegate but it would be done two weeks prior to the delegates meeting through the General Secretary of his concerned Union who would be responsible to submit it with the Secretary General of the PFUJ to be presented in the delegates meeting.
• Election to the FEC shall be made by the ballot vote, each delegate having one vote for each post to which election is made. In case of a tie, a second or a third ballot shall be taken.
  1. The Chairman/vice chairman of the election commissioner shall announce result of the election for FEC as soon as the counting of votes for the result is completed. At the end of the Delegates Meeting, the outgoing office-bearers shall hand over charge of the office, records, funds and all other property belonging to the PFUJ, to the newly elected office bearers concerned.

 

ARTICLE 9                            Special Delegates Meeting

Rule 1                    Convening Special Delegates meeting    

A special Delegates Meeting may be convened for the following purposes;

• On the decisions of the FEC to hold a Special Delegates Meetings to discuss any specified vital problem affecting the working journalists of Pakistan or on emergency like a strike of working journalists of one or more media Centers.
• To deal with a no-confidence motion against the President or the Secretary General or the FEC as a whole for which purpose a requisition under article 8 has been made to hold a Special Delegates Meeting.

Rule 2                   Meeting Participants

A Special Delegates Meeting participant shall be constituted on the proportions as the Delegates meeting but the affiliated unions shall elect their quota of the delegates within 10 days of the receipt of intimation from FEC.

Rule 3                    President to Chair Special delegates meeting

1. A Special Delegates Meeting shall be presided over by the President of the PFUJ unless a motion of no-confidence is pending against him, in which case, or in his absence, one of the vice Presidents, according to the order of precedence, shall take the chair. If the no-confidence motion is against the entire Council, one of the delegates shall be elected to preside.
2. Not less than seven days’ notice shall be given to the Secretary General of any resolution other than a no-confidence motion, which is sought to be moved at Special delegates meeting.

Rule 4                   Requisition of meetings by Unions

• Any ten Unions’ affiliated executive councils by resolution passed by them, can requisition a special delegates’ meeting to discuss a specific urgent matter of importance concerning journalists of a province or of Pakistan as a whole, and it shall be obligatory on the part of the FEC to convene such a meeting within three weeks and hold it within six weeks of the persist of requisition of the last of the two requisitioning councils. It is obligatory that the quorum of the meeting must be 2/3 otherwise it will not consider as lawful. In case of failure of the FEC to convene the meeting within three weeks the two requisitioning council shall convene and hold such a meeting within one month’s notice.

 

• A special Delegates Meeting may have one or more secret sittings at which members of the FEC shall not be admitted unless they are delegates, provided that at least one open sitting shall have been held before the Special Delegates’ meeting goes into secret session.

 

ARTICLE 10                          REQUISITIONING MEETINGS

Rule 1                                   FEC Meeting

Any 1/3 members of the FEC can requisition in writing a meeting of the FEC to discuss a specific urgent matter of importance and it shall be obligatory on the part of the Secretary General and the President to convene a meeting within two weeks of receiving the requisition, failing to which the requisitioning members may themselves convene the meeting of FEC with a clear notice of 15 days and any decision taken by the majority in that meeting shall be valid. The quorum of the meeting must be 2/3 of total members otherwise the decision taken shall not be considered lawful.

 

 

Rule 2                    Special Delegates Meeting        

Any ten executive councils of the affiliated Unions by resolution passed by them can requisition a Special Delegates Meeting to discuss a specific matter of urgent importance concerning journalists of a media Centre of Pakistan, as a whole and it shall be obligatory on the FEC to hold such a meeting within six weeks of the receipt of requisition from the last of the two requisitioning councils. It is compulsory that the meeting quorum shall be 2/3 or else it is not considered lawful.

Rule 3                  Executive Council of affiliated Union

Any five members of the executive council of an affiliated union can requisition in writing a meeting of their council to discuss a specific urgent matter of importance and it shall be obligatory on the General Secretary concerned to convene a meeting within four days of receiving the requisition. A 2/3 quorum shall be required to legitimate the meeting.

If the office of the General Secretary and Joint Secretary is vacant, the President will convene the meeting and if his office is also vacant or he fails to call a meeting within the prescribed period, any four members of the executive council of the affiliated union can themselves convene the meeting of the council after a clear notice of full four days as provided in the constitution. In case of a requisitioned meeting, any member can be elected as President for the purpose of presiding over the requisitioned meeting, provided the President or any of the Vice Presidents are not available.

Rule 4                    Extra Ordinary General Meeting of Affiliated Union

1. Not less than one-fourth of the Full Members of an affiliated union can requisition in writing an Extra Ordinary General meeting of the union to discuss any specific urgent matter of importance and it shall be obligatory on the Executive Council to hold such a meeting within two weeks of receiving the requisition.
2. The General Council meeting of the UJs will be scheduled before the elections on the date and time frame as per their convenience, not later than one month before the election.

 

Rule 5                    Meeting of Regional Unions

Affiliated Unions shall be competent to lay down in their constitution rules governing requisitioning of meeting of Regional Union and units.

 

 

ARTICLE  11                         NO CONFIDENCE MOTIONS

Rule 1                    Against President or Secretary General

A no-confidence motion against President or Secretary General of FEC can be moved only at a Special Delegates’ meeting convened for the purpose.

Rule 2                    Against FEC as a whole or partial

• A no-confidence motion against the FEC as a whole or more than half of the members of the FEC can be moved only at a Special delegates’ Meeting convened for that purpose. Presence of 2/3 members is required to complete the quorum for this purpose.
• The mover and seconder of a no-confidence motion under the foregoing rules shall seek election as a Special Delegates and if either both or one of them fails to get elected as Special Delegate, the no-confidence motion shall fall through.

 

Rule 3                    No- confidence motion in affiliated Unions

• A no-confidence motion against the President or General Secretary of an affiliated Union or against any office bearer or a member of the executive council of an affiliated union or against the Executive Council as a whole can be moved only at an extra Ordinary general meeting of the concerned union and in all the above cases not less than two weeks’ notice of such motions shall be given in writing to the General Secretary concerned. Presence of 2/3 members is required to complete the quorum for this purpose.
• Affiliated Unions shall be competent to lay down in their constitutions, rules governing no-confidence motion to be moved in regional union and units.
• A mover and the seconder shall sign the No-confidence motions referred to in rules of article 9 mentioned above.

 

ARTICLE 12                                                          VOTING                                              

Rule 1                                    Voting by secret ballot

• At all elections, whether of the Federal Executive Council, Executive Council of Affiliated Unions, Regional Councils or Unit office bearers, the system of voting shall be secret.
• If voting on a censure no-confidence motion, or a resolution dealing with a proposed or continuing strike, or matters relating to constitution, wages, working conditions or terms of employment, or a motion criticizing the administration becomes necessary, at a meeting of any of the central, affiliated or regional bodies or units, any Full Member, seconded by another, can demand voting by ballot and it shall be obligatory on the person occupying chair to conduct the voting by ballot. In the cases enumerated above the President or the person in Chair shall consult the House before ordering open voting.

 

 

ARTICLE 13                                          AFFILIATED UNIONS

Rule 1                                   Formation of Affiliated Unions

• Affiliated Unions may be formed in any district of Pakistan, subject to conditions laid down in Article 2, Rule 1-c.
• Executive Body of the affiliated unions shall be called Executive Council of the affiliated union and shall consist of not more than 20 members, including office bearers. The number of office bearers shall never exceed the number of members other than office bearers.

 

 

• Members and office bearers of the Executive councils of the affiliated unions shall be elected at the Biennial General Meeting of the Union concerned and shall hold office during the following two year. No member of the Union shall hold the same office consecutively for more than two terms.
• For an extraordinary general meeting, an announcement in the press shall be made. For the Annual General Meeting, intimation shall be sent through e-mail/ Fax/SMS or WhatsApp to the members individually.
• The Executive Councils of the affiliated unions shall decide the date and venue of the Biennial General Meeting of the Union and shall give not less than ten days for the submission of nomination papers of office bearers and members of the councils.
• Every Executive Council of the affiliated union shall have a President, two vice presidents, one female VP, a General Secretary, two joint secretaries, a female joint secretary, a Treasurer, a Secretary Information and ten members, two of which shall be from young members.
• No meeting of the Executive Council shall be constitutional and valid unless it is presided over by the President or in his absence by one of the Vice Presidents in accordance with the order of precedence and called by the General Secretary or with his approval by the joint secretary in either case with the approval of the President.
• The Executive Council shall meet ordinarily as and when necessary provided that at least one meeting shall be held during the interval of six months.

Rule 2                    Election Committee for Executive Council

• Every Executive Council of an affiliated Union shall appoint an Election   Committee consisting of not more than five and not less than three members at its last meeting and not later than one month before the Biennial General Meeting/ general elections.

The election committee shall remain in office until the nomination of new election committee for next general election as mentioned above. The election committee shall conduct election and any bye-election during its existence. It shall be competent to take cognizance of all vacancies within the affiliated union, without any reference being made to it by the executive council of the affiliated union, if not informed of such vacancy within one month and will hold bye-election under the provisions of the PFUJ constitution, if the vacancy is not less than two months from the next general elections.

• If the Executive Council of any Affiliated Union fails to hold the biennial General Elections before the expiry of its term as per the constitution, the election committee shall take upon itself sole responsibility to take all necessary steps to hold the biennial general elections within one month in accordance with the procedure laid down by the PFUJ constitution. The time limit for the biennial general elections may be extended by an extraordinary general body meeting, which by a majority vote of 1/3 may extends the life of the Executive Council, in case of any emergency, for not more than three months/ or as decided by the FEC.

ARTICE 14                            Branches and Units

Rule 1               Regional Unions

• Affiliated Unions may organize regional unions in district’s towns where there are not less than eight full members.
• Every Regional Union/branch shall have an elected President, secretary and a treasurer. It may have a regional executive council, if so desires and if its membership justifies.
• Karachi, Lahore and such other media centers need not to have a separate regional Union but the Executive Council of the affiliated unions may function concurrent as the executive for the city concerned.
• A unit may be formed in the office of any newspaper, electronic media, news agency, TV News channel, FM Radio (news), where not less than three full members of the union shall insure that the union agreement are observed in the office.
• Each unit shall elect by secret ballot a Chief and not more than two deputy unit chiefs, who will act on the matters relating to the conditions of service, seek redress for grievances of members, keep the record, receive contribution and maintain liaison with the Executive Council of the Union which may except the Unit Chief as an ex-office member with no voting rights.
• An editor or head of the media organization as well as electronic media shall not be elected as Chief or deputy chief of the Unit.

ARTICLE 15                          QUORUMS for MEETINGS

Rule 1                    Delegates Meeting

The Delegates or Special Delegates’ meetings, if they are to be valid, shall be attended by not less than 2/3 of the numbers of deleg ates.

Rule 2                    Quorum of FEC

Subject to the provision of Rule 9 of article 5, the quorum for the FEC shall be one-third of the total number of the FEC. A meeting of the FEC at which it enacts rules for the guidance of the affiliated union under Article 18, rule 12 or it seeks to annul the resolution of the Executive Council of an affiliated union, the quorum shall be 1/3, provided the representatives of not less than 3 unions shall be present.

In calculating the quorum in this and the following rules, fraction more than half shall be counted as one.

Rule 3                   Quorum for BGM of affiliated Union

The quorum for the Biennial General Meeting of the affiliated Unions shall be 40 percent of the total number of Full Members of the Union and the Extra Ordinary General Meeting 30 percent, provided that the quorum for the adjourned General Meeting shall be half of the quorum fixed above. If a general Meeting for which due notice has been given could not be held for want of quorum twice consecutively, the quorum shall be 10 percent of the Full members on the third occasion, failing which the meeting shall be deemed to have been cancelled.

Rule 4                    Quorum for Executive body of Affiliated Union

The Quorum for the Executive Council of the of an Affiliated Union may be defined in union’s constitution provided that the quorum thus fixed shall not be less than 30 percent of the total members.

Rule 5                   Quorum for Regional Union and Unit

Constitutions of the Affiliated Unions may fix the quorum for meetings of Regional Union and Units.

Rule 6                   President or Chairman’s casting Vote  

The President or Chairman of a meeting of any of the bodies referred to in rule 1 to 5 above shall have no right to vote except when the voting of the house results in 3 ties, in which case the President or the chairman shall have a casting vote and shall exercise it. This will not deprive the President or Chairman of his right to franchise vote at the general elections or subsequent bye-elections of delegates, office bearers or members of the executive of the body concerned.

Rule 7                   For Adjourned FEC or Executive Council meeting

If meeting of the FEC or an affiliated Union’s executive council for which due notice was given could not be held for want of quorum the second time, when the same meeting of the FEC or the Executive Council is notified, its quorum shall be half of what is prescribed for the FEC or executive council concerned.

ARTICLE 16          OFFICE BEARERS

Rule 1                   Paid staff

All office bearers shall be honorary. But when the work of the PFUJ or an affiliated Union increase and it needs the fulltime attention of any office secretaries, the Executive council concerned may recommend to the Delegates’ meeting or the Biennial General Meeting as the case may be to appoint a paid office secretary, who will not be a member of the FEC or the Executive council of an affiliated Union.

Rule 1-a

President will be the organizational head of the PFUJ. He shall preside over meetings of the FEC. In his absence, a senior vice President or Vice President shall officiate to his duties.

Rule 1/b. Vice Presidents and joint secretary in different provinces & RIUJ shall be responsible for the activities of the affiliated unions of the respective province and RIUJ respectively and to implement the PFUJ decisions. They will be answerable to the PFUJ President and Secretary General. Save: One VP and Joint Secretary may be appointed for one part of the province while the other VP and joint secretary will look after the rest part of that province.

 

Rule 1-c. Woman VP and woman joint secretary will look after the women wing of the PFUJ and the affiliated Unions in the respective province & RIUJ.

Rule 1-d. The PFUJ VP and joint secretary from RIUJ shall look after activities for RIUJ and affiliated Unions from AJK

 

Rule 2                    Maintenance of meeting minutes

The Secretary General of the PFUJ and the General Secretary of the affiliated Unions shall be responsible for the maintenance of minutes of all meetings and all other office records in which they shall be assisted by Assistant Secretaries or Joint Secretaries as the case may be.

Rule 3                    Collection of funds/subscriptions

The Secretary General, the General Secretaries, one of the Assistant Secretaries, or treasurer shall sign all receipts for contributions or subscription. For special fund collections, responsible members other than the aforesaid office bearers may be authorized by the Executive Council, as the case may be. All amounts collected shall be handed over to the Treasurer concerned or credited directly to the account of the Union concerned in the authorized bank and the receipt immediately passed on to the Treasurer.

Rule 4                  Accounts maintenance

The respective Treasurers shall be responsible for the accounts relating to the receipts and expenditure of money on behalf of the Central or affiliated Union. The Central and affiliated unions shall keep current accounts with banks in the city where the permanent offices of the Unions are situated and the choice of the Bank shall be made by the Delegates ^l Meeting or the biennial General Meeting of affiliated Unions.

Rule 5                   Accounts Signatory

The current account referred to in Rule 4 above shall be in the name of the union concerned and all cheques shall be signed.

(a) By the President and the Treasurer jointly in the case of affiliated Unions.

(b) In the case of PFUJ, by the President and the Treasurer jointly, if both of them are residents of the same city, newspaper as well as Electronic Media Centre and in other cases by the President and such other member as may be authorized by the FEC for that purpose.

Rule 6                    Subsidiary Account

When office-bearers authorized to sign cheques are elected from a media Centre other than Karachi a subsidiary account may be opened, if the FEC so desires, in media Centre concerned, provided that this subsidiary account shall be closed as soon as the need for that account has ceased to exist and that at no time the total deposit in this subsidiary account shall exceed Rs. 10,000.

 

Rule 7                    Assistant to Secretary

The Assistant Secretaries and the Joint Secretaries of the Federal and affiliated Unions will assist the Secretary General and the General Secretaries respectively, shall co-operate with them in every respect, and will officiate for them in their absence.

Article 17                             Contribution            

Rule 1                                    Annual membership Fee

• Full members and Associate Members shall pay an annual contribution of Rs.480/- payable in advance in four equal installments or Rs 40 per month.
• That a defaulting member shall cease to be a voter at any election or meeting of the union pending the clearance of his dues.

Rule 2                    Cadet member

Cadet member shall pay no contribution fee.

Rule 3                    Life members

Life Members and full members above the age of 60 shall be exempted from the payment of contributions. Unemployed members may be exempted for the period during which they are unemployed.

Rule4                    Admission Fee

Every member at the time of admission shall pay rupees 500/- as admission fee, but there shall be no fee in the case of cadet members.

 

 

Article 18             POWER OF EXECUTIVE COUNCILS OF THE AFFILIATED UN1ONS

Rule 1                   Administrative

The Executive Council shall have powers to administer the affairs and funds of the Unions in accordance with the rules and Provisions of the Central and respective constitutions of affiliated union and shall be subject only to the directions of the biennial General Meeting, the Federal Executive Council and the Delegates Meeting.

Rule 2                    Special power

The Executive Councils shall have power to determine any point not covered by the rules of the constitutions of the Central or affiliated unions subject to the approval of the FEC.

Rule 3                    Legal Action

The Executive Council may institute legal proceedings in the name of the Union against any member or office-bearer who is suspected of embezzling funds or falsifying accounts of the Union.

Rule 4                    Inspection of minutes & accounts

The Executive Council shall have authority to call for the production of minutes or accounts of any Regional Union or Unit for inspection and verification.

Rule 5                    Directive to regional unions

The Executive Council shall have power to issue directives to Regional Union and Units consistent with the aims and objects of the Union.

Rule 6                   Suspension of regional union

The Executive Council shall have power to suspend or dissolve Regional or Unit executive and appoint ad hoc committees pending settlement of any dispute, which had rendered its usual functioning impossible. Provided no such action be initiated without proper show cause notice to the concerned Union and considering reply thereof.

 

 

Rule 7                    Rules for members

The Executive Council shall have power to formulate rules regarding procedure or for the guidance of members of the Union that can be repealed only by the biennial General Meeting or the Union concerned, the FEC, or the Delegates’ Meeting.

Rule 8                   Contribution exemption

The Fed Executive Council may exempt or reduce the contribution of any member. Affiliated UJs of PFUJ will not be entitled to waive the fees of any member. However, with the approval of the Executive Council of PFUJ, the fees will be reduced to some extent but no UJ will have this option automatically.

 

Rule 9

If an office-holder or member of the executive Council absents himself from three or more meetings of the Council consecutively, or six or more meetings of the Council during one session of the Union without taking the prior permission of the Council in person, or without giving in writing to the President or the General Secretary before the commencement of the meetings of the Council valid and adequate reasons for so absenting himself, the Council shall have power to declare the seat of such office holder or member of the Council vacant and will fill it in the manner prescribed by the Constitution.

Explanation:

(1) By one “session” is meant the period between the dates on which two consecutive elections are held.

(2) The Executive Council shall be the final authority to decide whether the reason given by an office-holder or member of the Council referred to above is “valid and adequate.”

(3) For the purpose of Rule 9 an adjourned meeting of the Council and duly notified meeting of the Council, which could not be held for want of quorum, shall be reckoned as meetings of the Council.

Rule 10

Before declaring the seat of an office-holder or member vacant under Rule 9 above, the Executive Council shall give such officeholder or member an opportunity to explain his case before a Council meeting, no matter whether he avails himself of that opportunity or not. But such office-holder or member shall have no right to vote on any questions relating to his failure to attend the meetings of the Council or on the question whether his seat should be declared vacant.

Rule 11

An office-holder or member of the Executive Council whose seat has been declared vacant under Rule 9 above shall have no right of appeal against the decision of the Council, but he shall not be debarred by such decision from seeking election to the same or other seats in subsequent by-elections or annual elections.

Rule 12

The Power of the Executive Council to exempt an office-holder or member of the Council from attending its meetings even on valid and adequate grounds is limited to 90 days in one session of the Union after which the seats of such office-holder or member shall be declare vacant.

Article 19                             FINANCE

 

Rule 1

The collection of annual contributions named in Article 16 shall be the duty and responsibility of affiliated Unions and the PFUJ shall have no right to collect directly these contributions.

Rule 2

The contributions collected in accordance with Rule 1 above shall be allocated in the following manner:

• Out of the membership contributions collected by regional Unions from their members, the regional Unions shall be entitled to keep 25 paisa in the rupee for the Regional fund and the remaining 75 paisa shall be shared by the affiliated and Central Unions equally.
• At the time of affiliation, a Union shall pay to the PFUJ Rs 40/per full member and Rs.20/per associate member. Thereafter the affiliated Union shall pay 50 per cent of its total annual subscription in addition to the admission fee of every member.

It shall be the duty of regional Unions to remit the balance after deducting their share to the affiliated Unions and it shall be the latter’s duty to remit to the Central Union its share.

Rule 3

Every affiliated Union shall keep separate heads of account for annual contributions and other funds such as Fighting Fund, Reserve Fund etc.

Rule 4

The financial year of the Central and affiliated unions shall be from July 1 to June 30. The FEC and the Executive Council of the affiliated Unions shall get the accounts of their respective Unions for each year audited by a recognized firm of auditors before July 15 of the following year. The accounts of regional unions and units shall be examined end checked by the Treasurer of the affiliated Union jointly with another member of the Executive Council concerned.

The FEC shall get its account duly audited by a recognized firm while the accounts of the affiliated Unions shall be audited by Special Audit Committee, constitute in the delegates meeting at the time of the BDM, held after every two years. The committee shall submit the audit report of the affiliated union in the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council, held after the delegates meeting of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

Rule 5

No later than July 31 every year, after the accounts of the previous year had been audited in the manner prescribed in Rule 4 above, every affiliated Union shall pay as subvention to the PFUJ an amount not less than 10 per cent of the total amount collected by the Union during the previous year under general heads other than membership contribution, provided that this subvention is not livable on an affiliated Union if that Union is conducting a strike at the time this subvention falls due.

Rule 6

The FEC and Executive Councils of affiliated Unions shall have the power to call for voluntary contributions for any specified purpose from all members of the PFIJJ.

Rule 7

The FEC shall have power to authorize the expenditure of any amount by the President, Secretary General, Treasurer or any other office holder or member of the FEC for a specified and approved purpose. All expenditure exceeding Rs. 20,000/- shall require the prior sanction of the FEC. Expenditure not exceeding Rs. 20,000/- in a month may be decided upon by the President and Secretary General jointly or President and Treasurer jointly.

Rule 8 Neither the President, Secretary General nor the Treasurer shall at any time keep in his possession amounts exceeding Rs 15,000 in cash unless authorize by the FEC in this behalf.

Rule 9

In the case of affiliated Unions, expenditure involving amounts not exceeding Rs.12,000/- may be decided upon by the President, General Secretary and the Treasurer jointly. For expenditure, exceeding Rs.12,000/- the sanction of the Executive Council shall be necessary. The President or Treasurer or the General Secretary shall at no time keep in his possession any amount exceeding Rs.15,000/- unless authorized by the Executive Council concerned.

ARTICLE  20         UN-EMPLOYMENT AND BENEFIT FUNDS

Rule 1

Ordinarily it will be the function of affiliated Unions to institute unemployment and other benefit funds to provide for the economic welfare of their members during unemployment, old age or illness. The PFUJ may also institute similar funds if conditions permit.

Rule 2

When affiliated Unions’ Executive Councils institute such funds shall have power to frame rules and by-laws for their efficient administration and copies of these rules and by-laws shall be forwarded to the FEC and placed before the first Biennial General Meeting of the Union concerned for its approval.

Rule 3

Executive Councils of the affiliated Unions shall appoint benefit fund committees, as soon as such funds are instituted for their administration, in which the General Secretary and the Treasurer shall be ex-officio member. All decisions of such committees shall be subject to the approval of the Executive Council concerned.

Rule 4

When the PFUJ, the FEC institutes benefit funds, shall have full powers to devise ways and means for their administration.

RTICLE 21                             EMPLOYMENT DISPUTES

Rule 1

The Executive Council of an affiliated Union alone shall have power to order the withdrawal of any of its members from their employment and to take steps to conduct such negotiations or accept such altered conditions of employments as may be necessitated thereby.

Rule 2

No withdrawal from employment of members of an affiliated Union shell be sanctioned by its Executive Council, unless a ballot of the members affected is taken and it shows a two third majority of these voting in favour of such action.

Rule 3

The executive Council of an affiliated union shall be competent to call a strike in the media Centre to which it belongs after having taken ballots in the banner prescribed under rule 2 above and in these ballots not less than two-third the number of offices affected having voted in favor of strike.

Rule 4

A token strike for not exceeding one day can be called by an affiliated Executive Council if a general meeting of the Union concerned declares in favor of such strike by not less than two third majority.

Rule 5

An all-Pakistan strike can be called only by the FEC after a majority of affiliated Union including the Unions of the Punjab, and Karachi, have voted in favor of such strike in accordance with the procedure laid down in the foregoing rules.

Rule 6

A token strike for not exceeding 24 hours throughout Pakistan may be called by the FEC after consulting all the Executive Councils of the affiliated unions and containing the approval of a majority of them including the unions of Karachi and Punjab.

 

Rule 7

A strike, which has been called in accordance with procedure laid down in the foregoing rules, can be called off by the body, which had called it.

Rule 8

In all cases of strike due notice shall be given to the proprietors concerned except where it is precipitated by sudden acts of provocation on the part of proprietors or their agents, such as physical assault of bodily injury, or gross insult.

 

Article 22                                             DISCIPLINE

 

Rule 1

The FEC shall have power to remove from office or suspend the performance or the duties of any office-bearer of the FEC, excluding the President and Secretary General, or a member of the FEC or any member of any FEC sub-Committee, for any dereliction of duty proved against him. Complaints of such dereliction of duty may be laid before the FEC by any member of the FEC or any Full member through the Executive Council of his affiliated union. The person against whom complaint is made shall be given not less than 14 days’ time to present his case before the FEC. Any such member of the FEC or FEC subcommittee dealt under this rule shall, on giving notice of appeal to the Secretary General within three weeks after the decision of the FEC have a right to appeal to the next Delegates! Meeting before which he is entitled to appear and present his case. The decision of the Delegates! Meeting shall be final.

Rule 2

The FEC and the affiliated Executive Council shall in their respective spheres have power to suspend or expel any member of the PFUJ for and conduct detrimental to the Union proved against him. Any member dealt with under this rule shall have a right to appeal to next special Delegates meeting or Delegates meeting and to next extra-ordinary General meeting or the biennial General meeting of the affiliated union, as the case may be. The complaints and appeals under this rule shall be dealt with according to the procedure prescribed in rule 1 above. Conduct detrimental to the interests of the Union for this purpose shall include the disclosure to the Press or otherwise of the confidential business of the FEC, Executive Councils of affiliated Unions, any secret meeting of a special Delegates’ Meeting or any Region or Unit, or any breach of principles laid down in the Union code of conduct.

Rule 3

When the professional conduct of a member has been publicly criticized it shall be the duty of the members own Branch to investigate the case and submit the facts to the Executive Council of the affiliated Union which may take action against the member subject to the provisions of Rule 4 below, or refer the case for suitable action to the FEC or support the member against public criticism if on investigation the criticism had been found to be baseless or malicious.

Rule 4

The Executive Council of affiliated Unions may take disciplinary action against any office-holder, council or member of the Union for any conduct detrimental to the Union or dereliction of duty devolving on him by virtue of his office, which has been proved to the satisfaction of the Executive Council. But Executive Council of the affiliated Unions shall not be competent to award a punishment, which may exceed expulsion for-two years. if in the opinion of the Executive Council concerned, the offence proved against a person deserves a higher punishment, the Council may recommend to the FEC a higher punishment. Anyone dealt with under this Rule shall have the right to appeal to the FEC, provided he gives notice of his intention to do so to the General Secretary of his affiliated Union within two weeks after the decision of the Executive Council. He shall have the right of a second appeal to the Delegates’ Meeting against the decision of the FEC as provided for in Rule 1 and Rule 2 above.

Rule 5

Any member suspended from membership in accordance with any of the foregoing rules shall not be eligible during the current year or for the period of suspension, whichever is longer, to hold any post in the executive or committee appointed by Executive council, and may not receive any benefit from any of the benefit funds, however the suspended member shall be liable to pay his contribution for the period of suspension.

Rule 6

Any member who, without the written permission of the FEC, becomes a member of any other organization the object or purported object of which is the furtherance of the interests of working journalists by the regulation of their condition of employment or safeguarding their privileges, shall be deemed to have been guilty of conduct detrimental to the Union arid liable to be expelled or otherwise dealt with by the FEC under Rule 1 and 2 above.

Rule-7                   Disciplinary Committee

A disciplinary committee comprising senior members shall be formed to probe into any illegal act of any affiliated union or a member of FEC.

 

ARTCILE 23                                          SALARY

Rule 1

Affiliated Union shall have power to fix the minimum salaries of their members and frame demands regarding working hours and other working conditions of journalists of their respective areas. Where any such decision is taken, it shall be communicated to the Secretary General.

Rule 2

Decision on questions of salaries mentioned in Rule 1 above shall ordinarily be within the competence of affiliated Unions to take. But in order to bring about greater uniformity in respect of salaries of journalists throughout Pakistan having due regard to local conditions and special requirements of individual newspaper as well as electronic media centers, the FEC may ask affiliated Unions to reconsider their decisions in the light of FECs suggestions, and it shall be obligatory on affiliated Unions to discuss such suggestions at general meetings, but affiliated Unions may arrive at their own decisions. Such decisions of affiliated Unions shall’ be accepted by the FEC as Salary scales for the newspaper Centre concerned.

Rule 3

In respect of working hours and other working conditions, the FEC shall have power to lay down minimum standards for all newspaper as well as electronic media centers as uniform a level as may be possible, having due regard to local conditions provided that before Laying down such standard the FEC shall have called for and obtained the views of affiliated Unions or have invited special nominees of affiliated Unions to attend the meeting of the FEC at which such decisions are taken.

 

ARTICLE 24                          CONSTITUTION: Interpretation & amendments

Rule 1

Executive Councils of the affiliated unions may give a ruling on any matter of dispute regarding the interpretation of any rule or provision of this Constitution in so far as such ruling becomes necessary for the purpose of an affiliated Union meeting and such ruling shall prevail until it is set aside or superseded by the ruling given by the FEC. Whenever an Executive Council of an affiliated Union gives a ruling it shall immediately be communicated to the FEC. It is open to any Full Member who differs from the ruling given by Executive Council of his newspaper as well as electronic media Centre to refer the question through the Executive Council of his union to the FEC for its ruling and the FEC shall give a ruling on such question at the next meeting of the FEC unless the FEC is already in session.

 

Rule 2

The FEC is competent to give a ruling on any question of interpretation of the Federal Constitution and such ruling shall prevail until it is set aside or super-ceded by a ruling given by the Delegates’ Meeting, which alone shall be competent to give the final ruling.

 

Rule 3

On any matter not covered by the rules of this Constitution, the Delegates’ Meeting shall be competent to frame rules by simple majority vote for the guidance of the FEC and they shall not form part of the Constitution.

Rule 4

• No rules of the Constitution shall be altered or amended except by the Delegates’ Meeting on motions brought before it for which notice has been given not less than two months prior to the meeting and passed by not less than two-thirds of the Delegates’ present.
• No amendment notices of the Constitution by a member or an affiliated Union shall be admitted on the agenda of the Delegates’ Meeting unless a copy of such draft amendment had been sent to all affiliated Unions by the Secretary General of the PFUJ not less than 30 days prior to the date of the Delegates’ Meeting. The publication of the draft amendment in the official journal/website/official website group of the PFUJ by the Secretary General within the prescribed time limit shall be deemed as notification to all affiliated Unions.

Rule 5

Executive Councils of the affiliated Unions concerned can give a ruling on any matter of dispute regarding the interpretation of their constitution and such ruling can be set-aside only by the General Meeting so far as affiliated Unions are concerned.

Rule 6

No rules of the constitution can be altered or amended except by the biennial General Meeting of an affiliated Union concerned on motions brought before it for which notice has been given not less than two weeks prior to the meeting and passed by not less than two-thirds of the Full Members present.

ARTICLE 25                          DISSOLUTION

 

Rule 1

The PFUJ shall not be wound up unless, first, a majority of the affiliated Unions, including the Karachi Union of Journalists, and the Punjab Union of Journalists at their respective Extraordinary General Meetings called for this express purpose and held during the same year, passed by two-thirds majority a resolution proposing the winding up of the PFUJ for which not less than three months’ notice has been given, and secondly, the Delegates’ Meeting of the PFUJ immediately following ratifies by three-fourths majority

such validly adopted resolutions of which not less than two months’ notice has been given to the Secretary-General of the PFUJ by the affiliated Unions concerned.

Rule 2

On valid decision for the winding of the PFUJ being taken, the Delegates’ Meeting, which ratifies and finalizes such decision, shall have the power to dispose of the outstanding assets or liabilities of the PFUJ in any manner, which it considers best.

Rule 3

No affiliated union shall be wound up unless, first its biennial General Meeting adopts by two-thirds majority a resolution proposing winding up for which not less than two months’ notice was given and secondly, a special Delegates’ Meeting or the Delegates’ Meeting of the PFUJ ratifies such validly adopted resolution by not less than two-thirds majority.

Rule 4

On an affiliated Union being validly wound up, the FEC shall have the power to decide in what manner the outstanding assets or liabilities of the affiliated Union are to be disposed of.

 

ARTICLE 26                          ELECTION RULES

The Federal Executive Council of the PFUJ appointed on October 20, 1963, a sub-committee to frame rules under which elections to the PFUJ would be held. But rules for the conducting of the elections have been found necessary and the sub-committee has framed them keeping in view the practical difficulties that arise because of the distance involved when elections to the P.F.U.J are held. The sub-committee has framed the rules, which would be known as “Election Rules. An amendment was also made in November 2018 to stream line the election process.

 

1. PFUJ ELECTION By-Laws & Schedule
2. The schedule for elections of the PFUJ shall be announced at least 14 clear days before the receipt of nomination papers and at least thirty days before the day of polling.
3. The nomination papers shall be received till 24.00 hours (midnight) of the day fixed for receiving nomination papers.
4. The Election Committee shall send certified copies of the list of candidates to the General Secretaries of the affiliated Unions on the following day. The list will also be released to the Press/ social media on the said following day.
5. The scrutiny of nomination papers shall be completed no later than six days after the day fixed for the receipt of nomination paper and the list of the candidates as obtaining after the said scrutiny shall be sent to the General Secretaries of the affiliated Unions and released to the Press within 24 hours of the completion of the scrutiny.
6. Appeals against the decisions of the Election Committee may be received by the Chairman of the said Committee up to six days after the completion of scrutiny of nomination papers and the final decision thereon shall be released to the Press not later than eight days after the completion of the scrutiny.
7. Withdrawal of nomination papers shall be valid until 12.00 hours of the first day of the session of the Biennial Delegates Meeting of the PFUJ

 

7. The final list of candidates shall be announced on the morning following the day fixed for withdrawal of nomination of papers, if necessary, shall be announced during the last sitting of the Biennial Delegates The sitting in which elections are held shall be presided over by the Chairman of the Election Committee or, in his absence by a member of the Election Committee present, in the order in which the names of members are mentioned in the resolution of the appointment of the Election Committee.
8. Counting of votes shall be done immediately after the case of polling and candidates or their nominees (not more than one for each panel) shall have the right to be present during the counting of votes.
9. The Chairman/presiding officer shall make announcement of the result of the election after the conclusion of the counting of votes.
10. NOMINATION
11. Elected delegate of the PFUJ is eligible to contest elections to any office or for the membership of the Federal Executive Council provided he/she was member of the PFUJ on the day of filing of nomination papers, has duly been proposed by another such member and seconded by a third such member who is not otherwise debarred from seeking election under the constitution of the PFUJ.

For the election of PFUJ or any UJ, no delegate or member will be eligible to contest the election as an individual (independent) on a particular post but the delegate or member who wishes to contest the election will have to form a full panel. This shall also apply to all affiliated UJs of PFUJ.

11. A member or chairman of the election committee is not eligible to contest election to any office or for membership of the FEC of the PFUJ or to propose or second a nomination, during the period he is on the Election Committee.
12. All nominations shall be on the prescribed forms.
13. A delegate/member may contest election for only one office, including member of the FEC, but shall not propose or second another candidate for the same office, provided that in the case of members of the FEC, a candidate for that office shall be entitled to propose or second as many parallel nominations to members of the FEC as there exist vacancies for that office. Where this rule, in the opinion of the Election Committee, has been violated, it shall hold all nomination papers so affected as invalid.

• No member shall propose or second the name of more than one person for any office of the PFUJ including membership of the FEC, unless the Constitution provided for more than one seat for that office, in which case he may propose or second as many candidates as there are seats.

15. A nomination paper shall be rejected and declared as invalid unless it has the signature of the proposer and the seconder along with the consent of the candidate contesting.

 

16. No withdrawal of a candidate shall be valid unless it is in writing and bears the signature of the candidate. Any candidate who is not in a certain panel for the election till scrutiny, his nomination will stand as rejected.
17. ELECTION COMMITTEE
18. The Federal Executive Council shall appoint an Election Committee, not less than one month before every Biennial Delegates Meeting for elections, consisting of not less than three and not more than five members of the PFUJ one of whom shall be designated Chairman, to hold the biennial election and bye-election of the PFUJ.
19. The tenure of the Election Committee shall be two years from the date of appointment or until the date of appointment of another Election Committee for the succeeding two years, whichever is later.

 

19. Members of the Election Committee may be re-elected, but shall not be so elected for more than two terms in succession.
20. Member of the election committee whether of the federal or affiliated union shall not contest election to be conducted by him nor shall a member of the Committee propose or second nomination papers of candidates.

 

21.The election Committee shall be responsible for maintaining and preserving the election and polling records till sixty days after the counting & announcement of the results of the election.

22.All decisions of the Election Committee shall be by its majority and in case of a tie, the Chairman shall have a casting vote and shall exercise it.

23.The Secretary General shall provide to the Chairman of the Election Committee, the list of delegates/ voter members of the PFUJ, if possible, with their specimen signatures/ pictures, at least three days before the last date fixed for the receipt of nomination papers.

 

24.If the Election Committee consists of five members and if one or two of them resign, or otherwise cease to remain members of the Committee, the remaining member may co-opt to fill the vacancies. If it consists of five members and more than two members resign or otherwise cease to remain members of the Committee, or if it consists of three members, and one, or more, of its members resign, or otherwise cease to remain members of the Committee, the Federal Executive Council shall fill the vacancies.

1. ELECTION By-Laws for UJs

The Biennial Delegates Meetings, held in Lahore on March 10, 11 and 12, 2007 put Elections By-laws, made and approved by the FEC in Faisalabad in 2006, as part of the Constitution. Amendments were made in Biennial delegates meeting held in Karachi on October 24-26, 2013 & in BDM held in Lahore in 2018.

(1) All UJs must constitute the Election Committee in its last meeting, which will continue till the next elections (as per PFUJ Constitution). In case the entire committee resigned the Executive Committee can constitute another election committee to hold the elections within three weeks.

• All UJs must complete their process of new membership (if any) or scrutiny (if required) by Two months prior to date of elections. No fresh membership will be allowed or acceptable after the said date. This is very important as often the sitting Executive Councils were accused of giving new memberships just before the elections and often violate the rules and regulations.
• The UJs should sent the list of their members signed by President & General Secretary, to the PFUJ Secretary General two months prior to election date, so that there will be no inclusion of any fresh name in the list. The list should also be put on display on the UJs Notice Board as well as on the Notice Board of the respective Press Clubs (if possible).
• The UJs will collect the dues from their members and complete the process prior to two months of election date. And send the final voter list should be sent to the PFUJ Secretary General immediately, who shall send the same to the Chairman Election Committee of the respective UJs with his signatures.

 

The UJs General Secretary must send the cross cheque/bank draft of the subvention money along with the final voter’s list, without which the UJs will not qualify for the BDM. Names of the defaulters will not appear in the final voter list for PFUJ elections.

• PFUJ can ask the election committee to withhold the election results if any UJ failed to clear the subvention money in accordance with the members list.

 

• PFUJ Secretary General in consultation with the President will constitute the Election Tribunal, comprising three members to hear the post-election complaints and can decide the matter including re-election within seven days, if in its opinion irregularities have been committed in the election process or during the polling.

 

• Appeal against the tribunal’s decision can be made to the FEC, which will have the power to overrule or upheld the decision of the tribunal.

 

• During the polling the members must have PFUJ card or dues receipts with him or her at the time of the polling.

 

• Election Committee cannot make any changes or relax the rules or by-laws.

 

• Chairman of the Election Committee must send the initial report of the election to the Secretary General and the record within three weeks.
• No PFUJ office-bearer, FEC member or office-bearer or Executive Committee member will be the member of the Election Committee, but Secretary General can appoint any FEC member as observer for a UJ election.
• Election of affiliated unions shall be held two months prior to the PFUJ elections.

 

Appendix A                        Formation of PFUJ

Rule 1

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists shall be deemed to have come into existence on the day this Constitution is ratified by two affiliated Unions, as they exist today.

Rule 2

The Provisional Executive Council as formed by the Convention held in Karachi from April 28 to April 30, 1950 shall be the executive body of the union as from the day this Constitution is ratified under the rule. The Provisional Executive shall cease to exist on the day the Federal Executive Council comes into existence.

Rule 3

The powers and functions of the Provisional Executive shall mutatis mutants be the same as those of the FEC as provided for in this Constitution.

Rule 4

The Provisional Executive Council shall ensure that all executive and other bodies mentioned in the Constitution shall come into existence not later than 3 months after the ratification of the Constitution under Rule 1.

 

 

 

Appendix B         CODE OF CONDUCT for members

 

Like other trade unions, formed for mutual protection and economic betterment The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists desires and encourages its members to maintain good quality of workmanship and high standard of conduct. A member of the Union has two claims on his loyalty, one by his Union and one by his employer. These need not clash as long as the employer complies with the agreed Union conditions and makes no demand for services incompatible with the honor of the profession or with the principles of-trade unionism.

1. A member should do nothing that would bring discredit on himself, his Union, his newspaper, or his profession. He should study the rules of his Union, and should not, by commission or omission, act against the interests of the Union.
2. Whether publication or suppression, the acceptance of a bribe by a journalist is one of the gravest professional offences.
3. Every journalist should treat subordinates as considerately as he would desire to be treated by his superiors.
4. Freedom in the honest collection and publication of news facts and the rights of fair comment and criticism, are principles, which every journalist should defend.
5. Unless the employer consents to a variation, a member who wishes to terminate his employment must give notice according to agreement.
6. No member should seek promotion or seek to obtain the position of another journalist by unfair methods. A member should not directly or indirectly, attempt to obtain for himself or anyone else, any commission, regular or occasional held by a freelance member of the Union.

 

7. It is unprofessional conduct to exploit the labor of another journalist by plagiarism, or by using his copy for linage purposes without permission.

 

8. Staff men who do linage work should be prepared to give up such work to conform with any pooling scheme approved by the FEC or any Union plan to provide a freelance member with a means of earning a living.

 

• A member holding a staff appointment shall serve first the organization that employees him. In his own time a member is free to engage in other creative work, but he should not undertake any extra work in his rest time or holidays, if by so doing he is depriving an out of work member of a chance to obtain employment. Any misuse of rest days won by the Union on the sound argument that periods of recuperation are needed after strenuous hours of labor is damaging to trade unions aims for a shorter working week.

 

10. While a spirit of willingness to help other members should be encouraged at all times, members are under a special obligation of honor to help an unemployed member to obtain work.

 

11. A journalist should fully realize his personal responsibility for everything he sends to his paper or agency. He should keep Union and professional secrets and respect all necessary confidences regarding sources and information and private documents. He should not falsity information or documents, or distort of misrepresent facts.

 

12. In obtaining news or pictures, reporters and Press photographers should do nothing that will cause pain or humiliation to innocent, bereaved, or otherwise distressed persons. News pictures end documents should be acquired by honest methods only.
13. Every journalist should keep in mind the danger in the laws of libel, contempt of court and copyright. In reports of law court proceedings, it is necessary to observe and practice the rule of fair play to parties.

 

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