I pay my monthly subscription to the NUJ because they helped me out when I was negotiating with my employer after my accident.

But the recent BBC strike had me questioning my union membership -- and the NUJ's latest statement has left me questioning their sanity.

The NUJ has criticised the BBC because our material is being broadcast by Canada's CBC while its own journalists are locked out in a wage dispute.

The union says:

"The NUJ and BECTU condemn the use of material from BBC World to replace regular news programmes during the lockout of more than 5,500 staff at Canadian national broadcaster CBC.

"The NUJ and BECTU call for urgent talks with BBC management to demand it takes action to stop the BBC being seen to be used by management to break the strike and to preserve the reputation of the BBC for impartiality."

The NUJ may claim to represent journalists -- but it clearly has no idea how the modern broadcast industry works.

We have reciprocal arrangements with many international broadcasters -- ABC, CBC, Al Jazeera to name just a few.

The deals mean that when a big story breaks we can immediately access the best material from the nearest national broadcaster.

To claim the BBC is taking sides in the Canadian dispute is akin to saying the Ford Motor Company supports terrorism if its cars are used by suicide bombers.

It's absurd.