http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2123001,00.html

The National Union of Journalists will take “no further action” on implementing the controversial resolution by its members to boycott Israeli goods and services.

The NUJ’s national executive council (NEC) took the decision and called for members to unite instead behind the union’s “key workplace priorities”.

It unanimously backed a motion that recognised the NUJ would take no further action on the call for an Israeli boycott because the Trades Union Congress has rejected it.

The motion was tabled by the NUJ general secretary, Jeremy Dear, and seconded by the union president, Michelle Stanistreet, at a NEC meeting on Friday.

It recognised the concerns expressed by some members, chapels and branches about the proposed boycott and said that it had met the terms of the original delegate vote in favour of the boycott at its annual meeting earlier this year by informing the TUC of the conference vote.

The original Israeli boycott motion, known as Composite B, was passed by 66 votes to 54 at the NUJ’s annual delegates meeting in Birmingham in April.

“Composite B calls not for an NUJ boycott but on the NUJ to support a labour movement/TUC organised boycott. In implementing Composite B the NUJ has sent the motion to the TUC,” Friday’s NUJ NEC resolution said.

“NEC notes the response from the TUC international department setting out the TUC and the majority of affiliates’ position on the boycott, in particular, that the ‘general council is likely to take the position that this is not a priority for the PGFTU, still less the Histadrut, and would undermine our ability to act as go-betweens’, and that ‘congress, which has consistently supported the same approach, would also be to oppose the call’.

“NEC believes the letter from the TUC gives a decisive and final response to any call made by the NUJ to the labour movement as instructed by ADM [the annual delegates meeting]. NEC will take no further action to implement the boycott call.”

The NUJ’s NEC said it reaffirmed the sovereign role of the union’s ADM and said that the decisions taken by ADM were legitimate and binding on the union.

“The motion also rejected firmly any allegations that the union was anti-semitic or racist and reaffirmed the union’s commitment to fighting racism in all its forms,” the NUJ said.

BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones, who campaigned against Composite B, said the decision meant that the proposed boycott of Israeli goods was a “dead duck”.

“This has only happened because more than 400 NUJ members at branches and chapels across Britain and Ireland made their voices heard through branch and chapel meetings and petitions. I think we can be proud of what we have achieved,” Cellan-Jones wrote in a post on the Stop the NUJ Boycott blog.

“I’ve also learnt that 31 people notified the union that they had resigned over the boycott policy. I know a number of us had discussed resigning if the boycott stayed in place,” he added.

“I have now decided that I will be staying in the union and I would encourage others to stay and work towards making it more responsive to the views of the wider membership.”

The boycott motion was highly controversial and was attacked by critics including the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, and Times columnist Michael Gove.

On November 5 the NUJ will hold a Europe-wide “Stand Up for Journalism” day to highlight job cuts and declining editorial standards.