Too bad

Further to UCU: 'Mild-mannered militants' will get our support and protection':

• Howard Fredrics 9 October, 2008

  It's too bad that Sally Hunt doesn't stick by her words by helping bullied university staff to assert their legal rights. By failing to provide even basic legal support to virtually all applicants and by then withdrawing support to those few applicants who are given initial help when they elect to go all the way to trial, rather than accept a pitiful compromise agreement, Sally Hunt is perpetuating the cozy relationship between management and UCU at the expense of lecturers.

• Peter Kropotkin 9 October, 2008

  It is good to read that Sally is making some noise - now what about some action? All UCU needs to do is select some representative cases of union members that are relatively clear-cut, that have a decent chance of winning in an Employment Tribunal, and take them all the way. This will really show that UCU means business. The 2,000 active cases of members claiming unfair treatment, is more than likely the tip of the iceberg.

• Aubrey Blumsohn 9 October, 2008

  Too bad indeed.

  There is a world of difference between that which the Sally believes she sees and what the UCU/AUT actually does.

  Sadly, when asked to explain why the UCU failed to uphold the most basic principles of academic freedom in several cases (including those of Rhetta Moran and myself), Sally felt it appropriate to reply in a completely irrelevant manner and then to terminate the conversation.
  

• Andy 10 October, 2008
  
  Is Ms. Hunt living on a different planet? I’ve been paying my subs as a research student member of the Union for years, but when I desperately needed them to help me with a serious issue of disability discrimination (an issue that would have been eagerly championed in the good old days, when ‘outdated’ union membership actually meant something) my request was refused on the basis that I am (or was) a student, and I was dumped into a desperate legal black hole. Forget about the paddle – I was without a canoe. Despite my evidently sub union status as a student, I sent them a number of payslips showing the ad hoc casual teaching work that I was encouraged to do by the University - casual work is included in employment legislation and should have triggered at least a twitch of interest from this ineffectual Union. Is it any wonder that belligerent managers such as the ‘loose-lipped registrar’ (I know him only too well) treat the Union with derision. It’s because they act derisory.

From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk