Update - February 2nd 2011 - Letter from Education International deploring media treatment of conference

TUI condemns the inaccurate and scurrilous reporting of the attendance of union representatives at a world education conference in recent days.  The intention of this is clearly to damage TUI and the wider trade union movement.

The conference was the first of its kind addressing the huge issues cause by inequality in education, which has a particularly strong resonance for TUI.
 
TUI’s General Secretary and President attended the conference with 400 other educationalists and trade unionists from over 90 countries, and a full and complete report will be issued to members in due course.

Please see full text of a letter which issued to members on this issue below. 

An important message from the General Secretary

Dear Colleagues,

Some inaccurate and damaging media comment has been made with regard to the attendance at an Education International world conference on Equality by myself and by the TUI President.

It has been suggested that our attendance takes from the focus on the Public Service Agreement proposals and that this will delay the consideration of a ballot.  This is entirely untrue.  The negotiations in which we were both totally involved have been completed; the final corrected documents (received only last Friday) have been considered by the Executive and this consideration continues, the documents have been issued to all members this week and have also been uploaded on the TUI website.  It is now time for the members to consider these documents prior to the commencement of a ballot and to discuss the contents with Area Reps at local meetings.  Feedback from these meetings needs to be considered by the Executive.  Several other negotiators, all equally involved, remain available to assist in this process.

The conference being attended is on Equality issues in education and it is a measure of our commitment to this concept that we saw fit to attend this conference, the first ever of its kind held by the world teacher trade union body to which TUI is affiliated.  Even a cursory glance at the issues consistently and successfully highlighted by TUI in the media in recent years –as recently as in last Saturday’s Irish Times - shows how the area of equality has a particularly strong resonance for our union. In excess of 400 other representatives from unions around the world from over 90 countries are also attending and it is my belief that our absence from such a conference would be remiss. This conference will in time be fully reported to the members.

Clearly the leaking of the inaccurate information was damaging to the union and it is difficult to see what motive could have been furthered by the leaker.  The union has enough difficulties without this.  As leaders of the union we must maintain all the normal aspects of union business which occasionally require attendance abroad.  The timing of this conference was outside of our control, indeed it had been deferred from a date earlier last year.  Clearly had the discussions on the Public Service Agreement not been completed, then we would unfortunately have been unable to attend.  It did not, however, interfere with anything.

It is most regrettable that the Irish Independent has given this what I consider to be inappropriate treatment.  This is no more than a story about union representatives doing their business for the members.  I trust that TUI can now focus on the main issue, that of consideration of a very difficult choice in regard to the proposals on the Public Service Agreement.  This will require considerable deliberation by all and members must not be rushed in their consideration of the issues.


Yours sincerely,

Peter MacMenamin
General Secretary
TUI