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Opt-out of the student union

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Comments

  • #32
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    Lockstep wrote: »
    It was pretty much the same thing with Mandate/Penneys. You become a member as soon as you start working there which is pretty much the same thing as NUIG.
    Fair enough if you have a problem with this but it's not unconstitutional.


    It is a grey area alright but to say it's not unconstitutional is probably going to far. The Supreme Court listed three separate sources for the right to disassociate in the case I mentioned. 1. The right of freedom of expression would be violated if a person was forced to join a union with values inconsistent of their own. 2. The right to disassociate was founded in the right to personal property which would be violated if an individual is is forced to join a union with the power to deduct membership fees and 3. the right to association is qualified only if there is a right to dissociate and as there is an explicit right to associate well then there is also a right to disassociate.
    So saying that it is not unconstitutional is going too far, in my opinion.
    The closed shop idea that you brought up is interesting though. It is unconstitutional not to afford "existing" employees the right to disassociate however there has been no ruling on whether this right to disassociate exists for prospective employees. It is questionable whether a condition of employment can be that you must join a particular union. I fail to see how this effects me though because I was never given this condition when signing up to my course in NUI Galway.
    I did bring up Article 11 of the ECHR and the mandatory membership of the SU is in clear violation of my rights regarding this. How this affects our domestic law is something I can't be sure of either. Once we ratified this however, it seems we have to tow the line in regards to this. The ABC case which will lead to abortion legislation/guidelines here is an example of this.


  • #33
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    TheBikeGuy wrote: »
    I'd certainly prefer to have the 40 euro they automatically charge as part of my fees every year. They keep that very quiet though

    Which seems to be unconstitutional!!!:)


  • #34
    Ficheall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,042 ✭✭✭Ficheall


    TheBikeGuy wrote: »
    I'd certainly prefer to have the 40 euro they automatically charge as part of my fees every year. They keep that very quiet though
    Where are you taking that figure from?


  • #35
    TheBikeGuy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 118 ✭✭TheBikeGuy


    Ficheall wrote: »
    Where are you taking that figure from?

    It was listed on my fee's receipt one year. That's for DIT could be different for other colleges


  • #36
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    While we are talking about the SU fees, I was wondering does anyone know if it is true whether the SU pays the UCI 8 euro per student per year to be part of that body? And if they do then what do the UCI do with approximately 136000 euro of NUI Galway students money?:confused:


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  • #37
    Ficheall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,042 ✭✭✭Ficheall


    isilidur1980 wrote: »
    While we are talking about the SU fees, I was wondering does anyone know if it is true whether the SU pays the UCI 8 euro per student per year to be part of that body? And if they do then what do the UCI do with approximately 136000 euro of NUI Galway students money?:confused:
    I think it's more like 600,000. It was over half a million in 05/06 anyway.


  • #38
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    Ficheall wrote: »
    I think it's more like 600,000. It was over half a million in 05/06 anyway.

    I think with them figures the least that should be put forward is an opt out of the UCI. How can our union justify this kind of figure at a time like this? Imagine what 500,000+ would mean to some of the students in our college who struggle to buy books and food, etc. The union will bang on about these things and at the same time transfer out this kind of money to a body which must be questioned on what it actually has and will achieve!!:mad:


  • #39
    Ficheall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,042 ✭✭✭Ficheall


    Apologies - on second thoughts, those figures don't make sense.
    I was looking at the figures listed here:http://www.su.nuigalway.ie/site/view/115/
    but that would suggest over 5k from each student. I'm not sure what the given figures mean now...


  • #40
    BuilderPlumber
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,378 ✭✭✭BuilderPlumber


    I think students should have the choice to be in it or not. I am unsure if it costs them anything to be in them (do fees cover membership and would fees be lower if SU membership was optional?) but am well aware of how poor they can be. I have found with Waterford IT Student Union that the service has gone from quite good to poor in just a few short years. Now, over that short space of time my fees and general costs have gone up. Are student unions all just into publicity, fundraising and politics and show a nastiness and arrogance when confronted about poor decisions they make? Or is it just here in Waterford? For me, I would very much not like to be a member of WIT Student Union. The elections are coming up next week but will this make a difference? My vote did not count before so I probably won't be bothered voting. Fresh faces may emerge but am sceptical if this can truly change what is a poor outfit. Are there even a need for student unions? Are all student unions as poor? Any views?


  • #41
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    BuilderPlumber wrote: »
    I think students should have the choice to be in it or not. I am unsure if it costs them anything to be in them (do fees cover membership and would fees be lower if SU membership was optional?) but am well aware of how poor they can be. I have found with Waterford IT Student Union that the service has gone from quite good to poor in just a few short years. Now, over that short space of time my fees and general costs have gone up. Are student unions all just into publicity, fundraising and politics and show a nastiness and arrogance when confronted about poor decisions they make? Or is it just here in Waterford? For me, I would very much not like to be a member of WIT Student Union. The elections are coming up next week but will this make a difference? My vote did not count before so I probably won't be bothered voting. Fresh faces may emerge but am sceptical if this can truly change what is a poor outfit. Are there even a need for student unions? Are all student unions as poor? Any views?

    I can see the huge need for strong student unions but the ones we have in 2013 around the country are generally poor. On a national scale, they have completely failed students. But every year without fail, their funding from students remains or even increases! The NUI Galway SU is pretty poor. Having said that, I am sure there is people who are class rep's and officers of the union who really are trying their best for students. However the majority see it as a CV enhancer is all!


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  • #42
    isilidur1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 120 ✭✭isilidur1980


    Student Union organising a march tomorrow in relation to the student levy and in particular how it is used for the Kingfisher! It will be interesting to see how it goes. Hoping against hope that people will actually get up and go!!


  • #43
    BuilderPlumber
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,378 ✭✭✭BuilderPlumber


    isilidur1980 wrote: »
    I can see the huge need for strong student unions but the ones we have in 2013 around the country are generally poor. On a national scale, they have completely failed students. But every year without fail, their funding from students remains or even increases! The NUI Galway SU is pretty poor. Having said that, I am sure there is people who are class rep's and officers of the union who really are trying their best for students. However the majority see it as a CV enhancer is all!

    True. Strong SUs are needed now more than ever but all too often the wrong people get elected. In WITSU, I see a trend that this years education officer will be next years president. Despite a poor performance as education officer, the current president was elected to that office last year. This year, we will see the same happen I am sure! Another gripe I have in WITSU is the influence a past president (who also was no good) still has over the current president.

    There are good people in WIT's union and class reps but they never get to where they should. It is a shame that poor performing individuals who are wellknown in clubs and societies can gain power.

    Unfortunately, the CV enhancement is all most see it for. Up until the 2010 academic year, WITSU was a good union but has been destroyed by the last 3 presidents and their governance. Egos are huge and an arrogance and nastiness has set in. An end to these ways is what is needed but we will wait and see what emerges from the election on Wednesday. Hopefully, some decent people can get elected and cleanse all the poison out of the union.


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