The deputy general secretary of the National Union of Journalists is to step down from the role after nearly two years.
Barry Fitzpatrick is set to leave the union role at the end of this year, after being elected to the position in January 2012.
He has been involved with the union for many years and was previously its head of publishing.
Barry announced he would be stepping down from the position at a meeting of the union’s national executive committee and his replacement has not yet been chosen.
He told HTFP: “I think it comes to that point when you think it’s time to do something a bit different and that is the moment I have reached.
“I have enjoyed my time immeasurably. I think I have made a lot of friends and I think there are a lot of people who have valued what I’ve done.
“At the moment I don’t have a plan B. I am going to spend a bit of time initially saying goodbye to a lot of people that I have got to know and think about my future.”
Barry added that he felt “journalism has never known it as bad as it is now” and he had concerns about the amount of user-generated content which local newspapers were planning to publish.
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Barry has worked tirelessly with many chapels around the country for many years. He has done great work for NUJ members and will be sadly missed by many.
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Having seen Barry in operation at the negotiating table and, after all his patient diplomacy and power of persuasion has fallen on deaf ears, on the picket line too, I know his commitment to defending the interests of NUJ members and by his actions ALL journalists is 100 per cent.
I wish him well in whatever he does and hope his successor has some of that Fitzpatrick spirit.
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Barry was one of the best full time officials any of the media unions have employed during the past 40 years. He was completely straight and never sought under-hand deals to resolve problems. Had he stayed in management, there is little doubt that he would have retired at least five years ago on a six-figure pension. It was Barry whose quiet persistence got most of the industrial relations issues solved at Times Newspapers.
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