Any decent employer advertises vacancies internally first.
If no suitable internal candidate is found, then vacancies are advertised externally. This is not a new development and indeed has been a negotiating goal for trade unions in many industries. I believe that the staff of the union deserve the same opportunities for career advancement as NUJ members working for, say, the BBC or Reed Elsevier take for granted. That means giving the staff the chance to progress and develop through the union s career structure, not by valuing their experience and learning at naught.