Ever since I enrolled in IT Tralee two and half years ago, our local Students’ Union has been appallingly undemocratic. I recall a brief encounter with Mike Thompson in November 2010 when he was education officer. I asked how the Tralee SU voted on a particular motion at USI National Council. His answer: “We don’t have to tell you that”. That pretty much sums up the current SU president’s attitude towards his role as a union representative.
Since then, I’ve justifiably been a vocal critic of the Tralee SU’s behaviour. Such disagreements are a normal part of the discourse in any democratic union, but instead of dealing with the problem with an adult discussion or a meeting; the union set out to censor, discredit and alienate its biggest critics. Mr. Thompson even wheeled in Gary Redmond in October to, in his own words, “deal with” me. I debated on college radio with Gary for 40 minutes. More than once during the debate he irrelevantly used the fact that I lost a class rep election to back up his ‘arguments’. He was fed this information in advance of the debate by Mike Thompson. During that same debate Redmond droned on about how “totally democratic” an organisation the USI was, but a month later the USI prevented me from travelling to the National Student protest. At the 11th hour I was denied a seat on the bus from Tralee which I had paid for ten days in advance. The discrimination and humiliation that I received from the USI didn’t end there. This was just the beginning.
Mr. Thompson claims that he held a union executive meeting on the evening of November 15th. He then informed the executive that at the USI protest in 2010 I was “involved in a breakaway protest where numerous violent incidents occurred“. On that basis he put forward a motion that I be excluded from this year’s protest, intimating that I personally posed a danger to the safety of Tralee Students. I was not asked to attend this meeting to defend myself. No minutes of the meeting have been provided and I have no idea who was present.
The truth is that I was not part of the breakaway in 2010. I wasn’t anywhere near the incidents at the department of finance. I wasn’t even involved with FEE at the time and didn’t know the group existed. There is a litany of video evidence and photographs of what occurred last year and the USI have their own unique and entirely false perspective on what happened and who was responsible. I cannot be found in any of those videos or photographs. I was not there, but Mr. Thompson states that my involvement in the break-away was the “deciding factor in the vote” by the Tralee union executive. His lies resulted in me being unfairly excluded. I can’t even begin to describe how deeply upset and offended I am for a union representative to imply that I have ever been involved in violent behaviour or that I have ever posed a danger to anyone, let alone my student colleagues. It is simply not in my nature. The problem didn’t end there however. It gets much worse.
I received very late notice of my exclusion by email at 11:05PM on November 15th; just eight hours before the buses were due to leave and I hadn’t been given any reason. The late notice was deliberate. It was to prevent me from entering the union offices to demand an explanation. I left a voicemail with the union president to inform him that I would arrive in the morning anyway. On my arrival, Mr. Thompson asked college security to call the Gardai if I attempted to get on the bus. He then stood in my way and physically blocked me as I attempted to board the bus stairwell. Such is the arrogance and the disgraceful state of USI, their sabbatical officers now believe that it is acceptable to play the role of disciplinarians and manhandle their own members.
I staged a sit-down protest in the stairwell of the bus and recorded six minutes of the incident on camera during which Mr. Thompson made libellous and false accusations against me. Twice he stated that I “caused trouble last year”. As I attempted to board the bus he also used threatening language such as “Try it” and “You’re gona get hurt”. There was no way for me to take my seat on the bus. Both Mr. Thompson and Vice President Niall Harty had formed a human blockade. I eventually left peacefully. I made a complaint to the equality officer of the USI. Gerard Gallagher replied and said that they had “held a meeting” and that Gary Redmond would contact me regarding the matter. That was two months ago. I’ve heard nothing from Gary and a follow up email I sent to the equality office did not get a response. Avoidance from the USI on this issue is absolutely unacceptable, but entirely predictable.
On the 28th of November Mr. Thompson made a formal complaint to the college. I can only describe its contents as an elaborate self serving fantasy; a pack of lies, completely bereft of any evidence to back up his ridiculous claims.
Mr. Thompson claimed I assaulted him. He stated that I “shoulder charged” him which resulted in quite serious injuries. In his complaint he explains that he visited a doctor who “strapped up his ribs” and informed him that he may have “bruised bones for the next 4-6 weeks”.
However, in a thirty minute phone conversation discussing the events of November 16th with William O’Brien, equality officer at NUIG, Mr. Thompson failed to mention the injuries which appear in the complaint a week later. One would imagine that this was important enough not to have just forgotten. He didn’t mention them because it never happened. The ‘injuries’ were merely an afterthought which came to him when writing his complaint to the Institute.
Just four hours after the alleged assault Mr. Thompson appears in the opening scene of this video energetically waving around a flag on what is at least a ten foot pole. I’m not a doctor but I think that’s an activity that would cause me some pain so soon after receiving the injuries he described.
In another video which I presented to the Institute’s disciplinary committee Mr. Thompson shows no signs of discomfort whatsoever just moments after I attempted to get on the bus, despite claiming at the disciplinary hearing to have been in pain and out of breath as a result of a “shoulder charge”.
Also, on the 29th of November, the day after making his complaint, Mike Thompson was one of the sabbatical officers that took part in a series of attempted USI occupations in Dublin City which involved physical confrontations with Gardai and being threatened with pepper spray. His ribs must have healed up much quicker than expected.
Mr. Thompson failed to provide a doctor’s report or x-rays. He never reported the incident to the Gardai. His only “evidence” was the witness testimony of his sidekick, the Vice President.
Not surprisingly the disciplinary committee dismissed his complaint of ‘physical abuse’ as there was “insufficient information” to uphold his totally bogus claims.
Clearly Mr. Thompson would have been aware that, had his complaint been upheld by the institute, I would probably have been expelled. At the very least he was attempting to prevent me from being eligible to run for a union position next semester. A precedent has now been set where any student that is critical of the union may face the similar treatment. The Union has also made a formal complaint to the institute against Gerard Collins the former mature student officer for publicly criticising the president for his behaviour.
This is not just about individuals, or personal rivalries. The actions of the Tralee Students’ Union have wider implications for the 4,000 students of the college. Their continuous refusal to uphold several items of the union constitution is a major barrier to student democracy and the right of grassroots members to have an active involvement in union affairs.
When questioned recently about the next step in the anti-fees campaign on their own facebook page, the Tralee union stated that “due to confidentiality issues we cannot disclose what the next step is. It was agreed by class reps we would not discuss the details of the campaign”. I have spoken to four class reps that say they know nothing about this agreement but even if it is true, no class rep has the right to withhold such information from their class mates, and the Union has absolutely no right to gag them. It totally contradicts our union constitution. The union must be answerable to its members; each and every one of them, regardless of individual opinion.
The Tralee union has not held a referendum on any issue in the last five semesters other than to introduce their constitution which is mostly, ignored. Referendums from students require 300 signatures. In Trinity which has over four times as many students, the number is lower (250). The union is required to hold union executive meetings every second week, but last year’s mature student officer has informed me that if any union executive meetings took place, he was deliberately excluded from them. Students don’t receive minutes from class reps council meetings and we almost never receive feedback from what goes on at USI National Council. In fact the union has at times made every effort to withhold this information. Just yesterday the Tralee sabbatical officers travelled to Dublin to vote on a USI referendum which called for an increase in pay for union representatives, longer terms of service and invested the USI president with greater powers. Tralee students had no knowledge of this referendum and our SU has no right to vote on our behalf without consulting Tralee Students first.
Our constitution also states that the Union must hold a UGM once a semester, but this semester, once again, there hasn’t been a UGM and they have only held one UGM in the last five semesters, which was very poorly attended. The quorum is too high for a small college split across two campuses, so no business was dealt with. It’s not a case that the Union simply forgets to follow its constitution. This behaviour is very deliberate. They do not want to be interfered with and despite Mike Thompson pre-election promise to radically reform the class reps council, it is clearly not working. As with the previous year, democracy is almost non-existent in our union.
Like many Unions across the country the Tralee SU is just another entertainment office, a golden circle for right wing careerists and people that want nothing more than to add a line to their CVs. The next step for them is to prepare for rag week, a welcome distraction to help their members forget that the fight against fees and grant cuts has already been lost…. again.
Nicky O’Donnell
FEE Tralee.
A+++ would read again