NUJ tributes to Charles Harkness
Charles Harkness, who died last month aged 82, was former deputy general secretary of the National Union of Journalists.
In 2018 he was made Member of Honour at the union's delegate meeting in Southport in recognition of his lifetime commitment to trade unionism and journalism.
He was also a noted community activist and in multiple careers, including elected office as a Labour councillor, and pursued his passion for equality and social justice. In recent years he has battled ill health with determination and humour and continued to contribute to community life and journalism.
Charles served as deputy general secretary from 1975 to 1981 having served as a militant NEC member at a time of significant industrial upheaval in the media sector.
He was centrally involved in co-ordinating the national newspaper strike from December 1978 to January 1979, involving 8,000 journalists. The seven-week strike was the biggest stoppage in the NUJ's history.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, paid tribute to Charles and extended sympathy to his family and friends.
She said:
“Charles Harkness played many important roles in the union. He was an activist, an official, a trustee of our charities, an expert on standing orders, an advisor, but above all a committed member who believed in and lived the values of the NUJ.”
Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said:
“With the death of Charles Harkness another link has been broken with the union’s history. As a chapel officer he was viewed as a radical left-wing activist and brought to his trade unionism a thirst for change. Charlie, as he was also known, developed close friendships across the union and long after his retirement retained close ties with colleagues.”
Michelle Stanistreet, former general secretary, who worked closely with Charlie in a number of roles, recalled his unique sense of humour.
She said:
“Charlie was an NUJ stalwart, a Member of Honour of the union who served it in varying capacities, including as deputy general secretary and trustee of NUJ Extra, over a lifetime of activism and engagement. His long service on the NUJ's Standing Orders Committee gave him plenty of opportunity to indulge in his trademark dry wit and acerbic asides, summoning the gallows humour that helped make delegate meetings more bearable for those of us at the sharp end. I'll remember him with fondness.”
Lena Calvert, former equality officer and longtime servicing officer, said:
“I’m so sorry to hear about Charles. I’ve known him since the late seventies and got to know him very well as I was his secretary when he was deputy general secretary.
“He was also responsible for provincial newspapers and that was a lively time with various disputes and strikes. He was a generous, thoughtful and kind man. He was quick to anger sometimes but only with those who probably deserved it! At one point I went to take him letters to sign and found him meditating whilst doing a head stand propped against his office wall. ‘Just leave them on my desk,’ came a voice from behind the big table.
“Later we worked on the Standing Orders Committee together and his eye would catch mine when there was a lengthy argument as to whether a motion/amendment was out of order. Despite his health problems, he was always getting involved with union issues or in his local community. RIP Chas.”
In her citation at the Southport DM, incoming president Sian Jones recalled the multi-faceted career of Charles, who as a member of the Standing Order Committee, was well known to hundreds of delegates for his assiduous attention to detail and ability to help navigate debates.
She said:
“Starting off on an undergraduate newspaper (‘because that’s where all the interesting women seemed to be’) he worked as a journalist on newspapers and for TV in Kent, Yorkshire and Durham before becoming, first national treasurer and then deputy general secretary of the NUJ in the 1970s
“He then worked for another union (representing British Telecom staff) in the 1980s as their head of communications (just as the government decided to privatise BT), and as a freelance consultant, before joining the civil service in the late 1980s and working in Whitehall for nearly 20 years advising ministers.
“He was seconded to Labour Party HQ during two general elections in 1983 and 1987 (so, not surprisingly, stood in Rye as a Labour town councillor). For most of this century he has been organising the NUJ’s biennial conference, but has also served on various committees and councils as well as being a trustee of the union’s charity.
“When it looked as though the civil service would not employ him because of his union past, he told the selection panel his second choice was ‘probably organised crime’.
“He is a life member of the First Division Association (representing the top end of the Civil Service) as well as the NUJ, and his government postings included the Cabinet Office.”
Journalism was written on his heart and in "retirement" he served as editor in chief of a community newspaper, Rye News. He served two terms as editors and worked with an editorial committee of volunteers.
At the Southport conference, where he received his membership of honour from, president Tim Dawson Charles spoke on a motion urging the union to work closely with Cardiff University’s Centre for Media Studies to investigate ways of helping new “hyperlocals” such as Rye News set up because traditional papers were no longer providing adequate coverage of local news and politics. It was a subject he felt passionately about.
In accepting the life membership award, he gave a typically robust speech focusing on declining living conditions, using the opportunity to promote his message rather than basking in the glory of his award – which he absolutely cherished.
He told delegates: “I want you to be angry because the government was telling us earlier this week that there are more people in employment now than in the 1970s - but what sort of employment? The gig economy [living from one delivery to the next]? Zero-hour contracts such as those common in coastal holiday camps here in the north and in the south where I live, where you don’t know whether you can afford the rent from one week to the next? An official living wage less than that calculated by other bodies such as the Living Wage Foundation – and, if your hours are cut, not enough to live on.”
He went on to point out how few journalists were now employed by the large local newspaper groups, and how their pay was little more than the £19,000 he was paid in the 1970s – and how more and more journalists are freelances living on uncertain incomes.
Charles Harkness was an erudite journalist. A graduate of Cambridge University, studying History and Geography, he was a voracious reader and his DM speeches and work from the top table, as a member of Standing Orders Committee, often gave an insight into his learning. In 2024 Charles spoke to Rye News about his battle with cancer and his battles with illness with typical humour and candour (A tale of two Charlies).
Tributes and thanks have been paid to Charles by the community of Rye through the paper he helped found: Thank you Charlie!