John Bailey, a journalist and former president and treasurer of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), has died aged 86. He played a central role in the seven-week strike by 8,000 local newspaper journalists in 1978-79, which resulted in a 14% pay increase.
Early life and career
Bailey was born in Southend, Essex, the only child of Ernest, a second lieutenant in the Royal Army Service Corps, and Josephine (née Smith), a secretary. The family was posted to Kingston, Jamaica, until he was eight, where he was taught by Jesuits at Campion College. After returning to the UK, his father was stationed near Wolverhampton, and Bailey attended St Chad’s boys’ grammar school. He married Maureen Neenan in 1963.
He began his journalism career as a trainee reporter at the Grays and Thurrock Gazette in Essex before joining the Hartlepool Mail for 11 years as a news reporter. There he began his union activity, representing local newspaper journalists in the north-east of England on the NUJ’s national executive council.
Union activism
Moving to the Sunderland Echo in 1974 as features editor, he served as NUJ president (1973-74) and treasurer (1975-82). As treasurer, he was one of the central co-ordinators of the 1978-79 strike. He briefly represented the NUJ on the Press Council in 1978 before the union withdrew. His enthusiasm for union practice extended to family life, where he created a collective bargaining mechanism for his children’s pocket money.
Later work
From 1998 until his retirement in 2005, Bailey worked as a press officer for Sunderland city council. Outside work, from the mid-1980s until 2010, he revived The Northern Cross, a monthly Catholic newspaper, and was its editor for most of that time. In retirement, he worked with the ecumenical group Churches Together.
His wife Maureen, a teacher, died in 2023. He is survived by their eight children, Tim, Clare, Dympna, Greg, Colette, Ben, Dom and Dan, and 16 grandchildren.
