Annual conference is unpredictable. Sometimes delegates think they are due to speak right up to the last minute and then "next business" is moved so they miss their chance. I know. This happened to me last year.
There is a reason why reps are in the firing line. If I were called to speak on the amendment to resolution 74 - which seeks to protect reps by collective action as well as casework support - this is what I would say:
An old steelworker was on his last legs, poor guy. With his ante-penultimate breath he said to his wife "I want the union branch to carry my coffin at the funeral.”
“Jack” she said (I think his name was Jack) “you were never a member of the union.”
“That’s right. They carried me when I were alive. They can carry me when I’m dead.”
It is an attitude we are familiar with.
I run a helpline for stressed teachers in West Sussex (I don’t get out much) and I receive calls from people who are not in the union asking for advice. Frankly the best advice I can give them is to join the NUT.
When you are in trouble; when the Ofsted Inspector hits the fan
• who is your friend?
• who is unconditionally on your side?
• who is going to fight your corner?
And in every case it is the union rep.
The key words of this amendment are:
“Bullying is best challenged by a collective and organised response.” (The amendment to resolution 74)
Some of you will have heard this story and I will certainly go on telling it until the day I die.
The union rep at a school “somewhere in Sussex” was targeted for redundancy by the head teacher. There were a lot of issues at the school and the union reps of all three unions were at the storm centre of the demands arising from the staff involving allegations of bullying by the head.
It is possible that the head surmised that removing the union rep would remove the problem.
The regional office intervened and all three unions held a meeting to agree a form of words to present to the governors. Teachers had been forbidden by the head to talk to governors. Since the NUT rep was married to a governor this didn’t make things straightforward.
There was a petition signed by all of the staff except senior management who were forbidden to sign it – one of them did anyway. Good for him.
There was a proposal from the meeting to hold a ballot for action the following week….when OFSTED would be on the premises and the eyes of the local press focussed on the school.
The head decided that discretion was the better part of valour and perhaps the financial circumstances of the school were not all that bad and, as the NUT had suggested at the outset, the reserves could take the strain.
The net result was that not only was the rep’s job saved – for which he is eternally grateful – but the head was then unable to make anybody else redundant either and the NUT remains the largest union in the school to this day.
This is not just trade union solidarity. This is NUT trade union solidarity.
It is what built this union in the past. It is what will build it in the future.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Guided Imagery
Guided Imagery
This is for my friends from the Expert Patients Program. I hope you like it.
What follows is taken from memory. I have the book, but I am deliberately not using it.:
I am one of those people who cannot close their eyes and relax in a group – I tend to go to sleep. However closing your eyes, taking three deep breaths and relaxing, feeling the chair or the bed supporting your body and feeling safe are the suggested preconditions for this:
You are walking along a road in the countryside. The sun is shining and there are birds singing. Try to hear the birdsong in your mind. By the side of the road is a box. Into the box you can put whatever is worrying you. It can stay there until you collect it later.
You open a gate and go into a field someone has sewn with wild flowers. Visualise and imagine the different colours of the flowers and try to imagine the scent as you walk along the path at the side of the field by the fence.
You come to a wooded area and you can walk along a path through the trees in the sunshine and try to think of how the trees would look in the sunshine, the shape of the trees, the feel of the bark, the leaves and how they move in the breeze.
You come to a waterfall and sit by the waterfall and relax watching the water and listening to the sound of the waterfall. You can stay as long as you like.
In time you realise it is time to go so you walk back through the woods enjoying the trees; through the field enjoying the flowers and back to the road. You now know you can come back here again and again.
As a suggestion you can record this and play it back through an MP3 player.
I believe in guided imagery and I believe I can make it work for me. It is not easy because lots of little niggling thoughts and sidetracks keep coming into my mind. Practice and more practice will enable me to minimise them.
Misguided imagery
This is just for fun. It is an illustration of how my mind just goes astray and the little problems I have to overcome in winning this battle. It is the most important battle there is. Nietzsche said that the will to power was the most important human endeavour but he was often misinterpreted on this – he said the power over yourself was the only power worth having.
I will persevere.
You are walking along a road in the countryside. The sun is shining and there are birds singing. Try to hear the birdsong in your mind. There’s that blackbird again. What a range of calls those cheeky little blighters have. The one in our front garden is continually teasing the cat by pretending to be wounded or ill and sitting on the grass then hopping off just out of reach….(diversion detected back to the narrative)
By the side of the road is a box. Into the box you can put whatever is worrying you. It can stay there until you collect it later. I can’t get it all in. It is a rather nice carved wooden box and it is going to be ruined if it rains. I just can’t fit all this stuff into it (diversion detected back to the narrative)
You open a gate and go into a field someone (I wonder who and why) has sewn with wild flowers. Visualise and imagine the different colours of the flowers and try to imagine the scent as you walk along the path at the side of the field by the fence. (I am getting good at this part although I am colour blind…)
You come to a wooded area and you can walk along a path through the trees in the sunshine and try to think of how the trees would look in the sunshine, the shape of the trees, the feel of the bark, the leaves and how they move in the breeze. There are shadows. Things among the trees. Try as I might I can’t help from looking round. And I feel such a fool calling out “Who’s there?” (diversion detected back to the narrative)
You come to a waterfall and sit by the waterfall and relax watching the water and listening to the sound of the waterfall. You can stay as long as you like. Why do they advise me to take diuretics and drink lots of water. Are they trying to make me into a sprinter or what…..
In time you realise it is time to go so you walk back through the woods enjoying the trees; through the field enjoying the flowers and back to the road. You now know you can come back here again and again.
I will persevere.
This is for my friends from the Expert Patients Program. I hope you like it.
What follows is taken from memory. I have the book, but I am deliberately not using it.:
I am one of those people who cannot close their eyes and relax in a group – I tend to go to sleep. However closing your eyes, taking three deep breaths and relaxing, feeling the chair or the bed supporting your body and feeling safe are the suggested preconditions for this:
You are walking along a road in the countryside. The sun is shining and there are birds singing. Try to hear the birdsong in your mind. By the side of the road is a box. Into the box you can put whatever is worrying you. It can stay there until you collect it later.
You open a gate and go into a field someone has sewn with wild flowers. Visualise and imagine the different colours of the flowers and try to imagine the scent as you walk along the path at the side of the field by the fence.
You come to a wooded area and you can walk along a path through the trees in the sunshine and try to think of how the trees would look in the sunshine, the shape of the trees, the feel of the bark, the leaves and how they move in the breeze.
You come to a waterfall and sit by the waterfall and relax watching the water and listening to the sound of the waterfall. You can stay as long as you like.
In time you realise it is time to go so you walk back through the woods enjoying the trees; through the field enjoying the flowers and back to the road. You now know you can come back here again and again.
As a suggestion you can record this and play it back through an MP3 player.
I believe in guided imagery and I believe I can make it work for me. It is not easy because lots of little niggling thoughts and sidetracks keep coming into my mind. Practice and more practice will enable me to minimise them.
Misguided imagery
This is just for fun. It is an illustration of how my mind just goes astray and the little problems I have to overcome in winning this battle. It is the most important battle there is. Nietzsche said that the will to power was the most important human endeavour but he was often misinterpreted on this – he said the power over yourself was the only power worth having.
I will persevere.
You are walking along a road in the countryside. The sun is shining and there are birds singing. Try to hear the birdsong in your mind. There’s that blackbird again. What a range of calls those cheeky little blighters have. The one in our front garden is continually teasing the cat by pretending to be wounded or ill and sitting on the grass then hopping off just out of reach….(diversion detected back to the narrative)
By the side of the road is a box. Into the box you can put whatever is worrying you. It can stay there until you collect it later. I can’t get it all in. It is a rather nice carved wooden box and it is going to be ruined if it rains. I just can’t fit all this stuff into it (diversion detected back to the narrative)
You open a gate and go into a field someone (I wonder who and why) has sewn with wild flowers. Visualise and imagine the different colours of the flowers and try to imagine the scent as you walk along the path at the side of the field by the fence. (I am getting good at this part although I am colour blind…)
You come to a wooded area and you can walk along a path through the trees in the sunshine and try to think of how the trees would look in the sunshine, the shape of the trees, the feel of the bark, the leaves and how they move in the breeze. There are shadows. Things among the trees. Try as I might I can’t help from looking round. And I feel such a fool calling out “Who’s there?” (diversion detected back to the narrative)
You come to a waterfall and sit by the waterfall and relax watching the water and listening to the sound of the waterfall. You can stay as long as you like. Why do they advise me to take diuretics and drink lots of water. Are they trying to make me into a sprinter or what…..
In time you realise it is time to go so you walk back through the woods enjoying the trees; through the field enjoying the flowers and back to the road. You now know you can come back here again and again.
I will persevere.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
BBC lose 9/11 coverage
The BBC have lost their coverage of 9/11
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part_of_the_conspiracy.html
The head of BBC news claims on the BBC website that is a cock-up not a conspiracy. If it is a cock-up it is a monumental one. The phrase "heads will roll" springs to mind. When they refer to Richard Porter as the head of news...it is still attached to his body is it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part_of_the_conspiracy.html
The head of BBC news claims on the BBC website that is a cock-up not a conspiracy. If it is a cock-up it is a monumental one. The phrase "heads will roll" springs to mind. When they refer to Richard Porter as the head of news...it is still attached to his body is it?
Reading My Arse! By Ricky Tomlinson
Reading My Arse! By Ricky Tomlinson
Quick Read series publishes by Sphere
ISBN 978-0-7515-3953-0
“Searching for the Rock Island Line” is the subtitle of the book and really a more apt title because the one thing which comes across in this is Ricky Tomlinson’s love of reading.
He explains in the intro that when he was wrongfully imprisoned (he was one of the Shrewsbury Two imprisoned trade union organisers – many older readers will remember demonstrations and petitions calling for their release) he found reading was the one way in which he could "escape."
The story is about a young man’s search for the Rock Island line, both the railway line and the origins of the Lonnie Donniegan song. It is a positive paean of praise for the power of reading and its ability to transform people’s lives, to keep them from depression and even to help them in impressing their girlfriends.
Its combination of simple vocabulary and humour makes it a quick read, as the cover promises. Ricky Tomlinson comes across as a down-to-earth no-nonsense character capable of poking fun at himself and producing a highly readable book.
Quick Read series publishes by Sphere
ISBN 978-0-7515-3953-0
“Searching for the Rock Island Line” is the subtitle of the book and really a more apt title because the one thing which comes across in this is Ricky Tomlinson’s love of reading.
He explains in the intro that when he was wrongfully imprisoned (he was one of the Shrewsbury Two imprisoned trade union organisers – many older readers will remember demonstrations and petitions calling for their release) he found reading was the one way in which he could "escape."
The story is about a young man’s search for the Rock Island line, both the railway line and the origins of the Lonnie Donniegan song. It is a positive paean of praise for the power of reading and its ability to transform people’s lives, to keep them from depression and even to help them in impressing their girlfriends.
Its combination of simple vocabulary and humour makes it a quick read, as the cover promises. Ricky Tomlinson comes across as a down-to-earth no-nonsense character capable of poking fun at himself and producing a highly readable book.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
G8 summit in June in Germany
Once a year the leaders of the 8 richest nations meet behind closed doors in secret with no publicized agenda or published minutes, to discuss the fate of the world. They’ve been making empty promises for decades about improving the environment, poverty in Africa, and lots more, but the fact is that the G8 is not the solution to these ills, it is the problem!
They have been arrogantly proclaiming that privatisation and massive cuts in services to the public are a global agenda every country in the world must adopt. Trade unionists across Germany will be involved in protests against this when the G8 meets in June this year.
They have been arrogantly proclaiming that privatisation and massive cuts in services to the public are a global agenda every country in the world must adopt. Trade unionists across Germany will be involved in protests against this when the G8 meets in June this year.
Friday, March 02, 2007
ROFLAWM
In Cyberspace Nobody can hear you ROFL
ASL= what age sex and location are you pretending to be today?
BOOK = cool from textspeak predictive text in which if you type “cool” you get “book”
AUNT = see the reference to S****horpe elsewhere.
BRB= I am going away and may never return – boy are you boring!
LOL Lots of love or Laughs out Loud. An important area of cyberpsychology is the research into whether people who write this actually do laugh out loud.
Newb = a term I really hate. We were all newcomers once and people made us welcome. Newb is a term of abuse for newcomers and no civilised person uses it.
ROFL= Rolls on the Floor Laughing. You just said something mildly amusing and your interlocutor likes you or you said something really newb and they hate you.
ROFLAWM = I leave you to work this one out yourself. Or Google it.
A review of Sherry Turkle's "Life on the Screen" is available here
Hamlet
A chatroom
somewhere in Elsinore
Examine Room:
The battlements of Elsinore Castle
In the room are:
Hamlet
Ophelia
Hamlet Hi
Ophelia That’s what I was going to say. You stole my opening gambit.
Hamlet Tell me O, (I can call you O?) Are you still shagging that guy Toby?
Ophelia Believe me H, I just don’t know where you got that from. Toby is just so over.
Hamlet Really?
Ophelia Yes really. He is history man. Put him right out of your mind?
Hamlet Out of my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ophelia Well yes I wasn’t being personal but you do take things to heart you know, you need to lighten up H baby.
Hamlet well bad things happen O, I can’t just ignore them. People
(time passes)
Ophelia People?
Hamlet They just can’t be trusted. Is there anyone else there with you?
Ophelia Why do you ask?
Hamlet Do you always answer a Q with a Q?
Ophelia Why do you ask?
Hamlet because I think you open your lovely person to every guy who comes along – Toby or not Toby.
Ophelia No really “lovely person”?
Hamlet Yes look I wrote lovely person and the chat system changed it to lovely person.
Ophelia How weird.
Hamlet I was thinking of going to Slovelypersonorpe at the weekend.
Ophelia LOL
Hamlet I still think you’re a bit of a nun.
Ophelia You wrote nun and it changed it to nun?
Hamlet Yes
Ophelia You really are a lovely person.
somewhere in Elsinore
Examine Room:
The battlements of Elsinore Castle
In the room are:
Hamlet
Ophelia
Hamlet Hi
Ophelia That’s what I was going to say. You stole my opening gambit.
Hamlet Tell me O, (I can call you O?) Are you still shagging that guy Toby?
Ophelia Believe me H, I just don’t know where you got that from. Toby is just so over.
Hamlet Really?
Ophelia Yes really. He is history man. Put him right out of your mind?
Hamlet Out of my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ophelia Well yes I wasn’t being personal but you do take things to heart you know, you need to lighten up H baby.
Hamlet well bad things happen O, I can’t just ignore them. People
(time passes)
Ophelia People?
Hamlet They just can’t be trusted. Is there anyone else there with you?
Ophelia Why do you ask?
Hamlet Do you always answer a Q with a Q?
Ophelia Why do you ask?
Hamlet because I think you open your lovely person to every guy who comes along – Toby or not Toby.
Ophelia No really “lovely person”?
Hamlet Yes look I wrote lovely person and the chat system changed it to lovely person.
Ophelia How weird.
Hamlet I was thinking of going to Slovelypersonorpe at the weekend.
Ophelia LOL
Hamlet I still think you’re a bit of a nun.
Ophelia You wrote nun and it changed it to nun?
Hamlet Yes
Ophelia You really are a lovely person.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Professional Unity
Most teachers think we should have one union but still we don't.
The best members of NASUWT and ATL, disgusted at the behaviour of their leaders who they think have betrayed them (well it's a point of view!) come over to the NUT.
However this leaves the other unions bereft of the kind of people who could lead them into a united organisation.
We should be urging people who want to change unions to stay in the union they are in and change *that*.
The best members of NASUWT and ATL, disgusted at the behaviour of their leaders who they think have betrayed them (well it's a point of view!) come over to the NUT.
However this leaves the other unions bereft of the kind of people who could lead them into a united organisation.
We should be urging people who want to change unions to stay in the union they are in and change *that*.
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