DITSU; A Union In Name Only.

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis

Monday March 08, 2004 17:52

by jordanista - DIT Faction

When democracy is voted out.

After a report carried out by Deloitte and Touche, it seems Dublin Institute of Technology SU has found that the best way to increase the participation of students in their organisation is to write students out of the constitution!

The referendum took place on the 23/24/25th of February. During the farcical proceedings polling clerks told students who were going to vote against the proposals that everyone else was voting the other way. After the close of polls the sabbatical officers (conflict of interest?) counted the votes only to find that they were below quorum. What was the solution of the motley crew of DIT sabbats.- just reopen the polls and let the voting to continue until they reached their quorum. Then after the quorum was reached the sabbats recounted the votes and the referendum passed Saddam style with 96%. This now gives Hugh O Reilly Brian Whitney and co. their life Dream of being Sabbats forever as they themselves are going to apply for the new jobs of CEO and unelected executives of DIT the business.

Deloitte and Touche have been scamming thousands of euros from students unions around the country in the past few years by carrying out what are essentially market surveys, so alienated student union bureaucracies can find out what the opinions and views of the membership they are meant to represent are. That Deloitte and Touche are an organisation more accustomed to carrying out reports for corporations comes across in the recommendations made.

What continually seems to be emerging in the student movement is the debate between two different modes of union, the perception of there existing two distinct purposes. The several killer coke referendums which have happened, expose these two tendencies where those opposing the boycott have been because of the perceived threat posed to the financial income of the unions. The suggestion being that a union is enslaved to its role as a service provider and can not take a political stance on behalf of its membership if this threatens income. The idea that a unions resources exist for anything other than fighting for its membership is forgotten as sabatts take on the role of business administrators instead of representatives. The contrasting ideas are those of the American model of a services providing union and the traditional model of a union which fights and campaigns in the interests of its members.

USI has long been drifting between the two, with this years administration crying into its cornflakes over a financial crisis which would prevent it providing services. That these moves can be traced to the politics of social partnership which sees the state ask unions to stand down the armour of their membership in favour of endless cups of coffee with civil servants across committees and education boards. When the national student movement ignores its broad mass of membership, refusing to represent them and campaign in their interests, is it any surprise that when it reaches a financial crisis that the only people rushing to save it is the state, with its offer of a cut of a rising registration fee, which the union is ideologically opposed to?

That most of these problems emerge from a lack of student involvement at a grassroots level in the unions is obvious. However, this is not something that changes by treating what is the natural strength of a union (its membership) as some broad passive mass, which consumes the services provided by some alienated business structure remains a student union in name only.

The referendum effectively ends the notion of DITSU the student Union and creates DITSU the business. The new executive is dominated by unelected staff Surely someone will appeal this farce.

The new model of student union-ism can be read at http://www.ditsu.ie/home.nsf/referendum!OpenForm