On the 4th of July 2011 the Edinburgh Evening News published an article entitled "College chief hits back at striking staff" in the article our Principal makes a number of statements and claims relating to the industrial action and the vote of no confidence in his stewardship of the college.
Below is the Branch Committees response to the Principal's comments. The response is bullet pointed to specifically address individual points and statements.
- Contrary to the Principal's stated position of not taking the vote of no confidence 'seriously,' at a meeting attended by Human Resources, EIS Area Officer and members of the Branch Committee the Principal professed himself to be deeply hurt by it. The action would, he said, undermine his authority with those individuals and institutions he was obliged to work with in the interests of Telford College. In fact, such was the depth of his feelings that he referred to the vote as a pretext for unilaterally withdrawing from negotiations over threatened redundancies until the Branch offered a public apology through the Evening News.
- Despite his allusion that such votes are par for the course in Scotland the Principal is in fact familiar with such votes from his time at Stamford College in Lancashire, England.
- If the Principal is 'optimistic' in regards to resolving our differences, this would appear at odds with his stated position of not talking to the Union about cuts to Curriculum Teams and redundancies.
- The principals 'persona' is certainly far greater than that of any previous Telford principal or that of any other Scottish FE college. His recorded voice greets all callers to the college, and his is the first face we see when logging on at work in the morning. Initial staff meetings involved him regaling us with his personal philosophy, the first runs of the Telford WOW Newspaper and the hard copy Prospectus for 2011/12 featured his image more prominently than any other individual. It is the Principal himself who has made his stewardship of Edinburgh's Telford College a 'personal' issue. Taking personal credit for any positive endorsements of the college, note for example how quick he was to take credit for turning round our 'dysfunctional' college in an article in TESS dated 27th May 2011 despite a long history of excellent HMIe feedback. Yet he is just as immediate in taking great personal exception to any criticism of his agenda and decision making.
- Finally, staff are quite clear on the distinctions between government cuts on the one hand, and the manner in which the Principal has asserted these cuts inside the college. The Branch oppose both the SNP's draconian cuts, as well as both the extent of proposed redundancies here, and the manner in which they have been pursued. Yes some threatened staff have been reprieved, but although they have avoided Compulsory Redundancy, many now find themselves on poorer contracts than previously, for instance Part-Time rather than Full-Time.
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